A Diamond in the Rough
by Bedrock Armor
Summary: When White Diamond and her entire army attacks Beach City after Steven and Connie's first date, the duo must go through thick and thin together to stop Homeworld. But first, they need to survive in order to do so.
1. First Date

**Chapter 1: First Date**

Two young kids sat down on the couch in the Beach House. One was a short, slightly chubby 14-year-old boy with light skin, short, curly black hair, and a pink gemstone embedded in his stomach where his belly button should be. The other was a short, skinny 13-year-old girl with medium brown skin and long, puffy dark brown hair. The girl was slightly taller than the boy. The two children, Steven and Connie, were best friends, although they both had fallen in love with each other. Problem was, neither of the two knew how the other felt about them.

But that was about to change…

"Connie, I… I have something I'd like to ask you." Steven was blushing; trying to gather up all the courage he had. "Yeah, Steven?" "Do… do you want to… b-be… um…"

Connie blushed. She already knew what Steven was trying to say. Smiling, she leaned over towards Steven slightly. "Y-yes, Steven… I would love to be your girlfriend…"

The two smiled brightly, still blushing, and leaned in to kiss.

"WOOOO! _You get 'er, Steven!_ "

"AMETHYST!" Both of them quickly pulled away as they were blushing so much you'd think they had a bad sunburn while the purple gem fell on the ground laughing hysterically.

"Amethyst! That was uncalled for!" Pearl was giving a look of annoyance and disappointment to Amethyst for ruining the moment. "I'm sorry about that, you two. Why don't you go out instead?"

"Okay. Thanks, Pearl."

As the new couple walked out of the house, they could hear Pearl start to lecture Amethyst about interrupting important moments in other people's lives. Connie spoke up. "So, want to go to the movies or something? I heard Dogcopter 4 is out now."

"Sure. _Hey Lion!_ "

A pink portal appeared, and Lion hopped out shortly after. "Lion, take us to the movies, please." Lion crouched down so they could climb on, and he then roared, creating another portal to go through. "He seems to listen to me a lot better now," Steven told Connie, as Lion hopped through and they came out in the movie theater parking lot.

...

After the movie, the couple walked out of the movie theater smiling and holding hands. Basically, in the movie, Dogcopter had found a female and they fell in love, and joined forces to drive the invading robots out of town. It had some interestingly accurate parallels to Steven and Connie's lives.

They then returned to the beach house, still holding hands. When they got up to the door, Steven opened up the door and held it open for Connie. "After you, _milady_."

Connie both giggled and blushed at Steven's gesture. "Why, thank you, Steven."

Connie walked in, with Steven following, and saw Amethyst making a sandwich with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, and engine oil. She then proceeded to eat the entire sandwich – and the plate it was on – in one bite. Amethyst looked over and saw Steven and Connie just getting back. "'Sup. So how was the movie?"

"Wait… how did you know about the movie?"

"Eh, I heard you two talking about going to see a movie after you left." Amethyst responded casually.

...

"Checkmate."

"Wow. How are you so good at this, Connie? That's, like, the third game in a row you've won!" After returning from the movie, Steven and Connie decided to simply hang out at the Beach House playing board games and eating snacks. After Connie beat Steven at chess again, they decided to watch another movie, but on Steven's TV instead of at the movie theater.

They decided on watching "Jurassic Park" at Connie's suggestion, though Steven had no idea what that was exactly. Since Connie had seen the movie several times before, she was expecting most of the 'jump-scares', as she called them, from the dinosaurs, but Steven would scream and cling on to Connie for dear life at each one. At first, the plan was to watch Jurassic Park 2, 3, and Jurassic World afterwards, but they decided against it after Connie noticed how the movie had ultimately left Steven traumatized and may have even changed his entire view on dinosaurs.

"T-those dinosaurs were scary, Connie! They were not nice at all!" Steven said, still trembling.

"Sorry about that, Steven. I forgot to think about how you would react to the movie." Connie said, with some sympathy in her voice. She also figured it would be a bad idea to show Steven her favorite game, "Five Nights at Freddy's".

"It's okay. I just got scared half to death about a dozen times." Steven said with a nervous chuckle.

"I liked it."

The kids turned around at the unexpected voice to see that Garnet had been sitting behind them watching the movie as well, her tone and expression calm as always. "You should probably get going, Connie. It's almost dark out." Indeed, the sun was just over the horizon, the sky slowly darkening. Both kids sighed in disappointment, but got going, nonetheless.

Not much later, a portal appeared in front of Connie's house. Connie carefully climbed down off of Lion and walked towards her house. "I'll see you tomorrow after school, Steven." Connie called back as she walked through the door to her house.


	2. Emerald

**Chapter 2: Emerald**

"Where… am I?"

Connie had just woken up in a strange landscape. It looked similar to the Prime Kindergarten without the gem-shaped holes and injectors, but everything was a shade of cyan. Everything was covered by a light fog.

"So you're the human who allies with the Crystal Gems. I must admit; I'm rather impressed."

Connie turned around, and there, several feet away, was a gem. Her outfit comprised of a light blue top with teal stars on the shoulders, sky blue hair, cyan pants, and skin of a slightly lighter shade of teal, with no shoes. She had a square, teal gem on her chest.

"Who are you? Why am I here? What is this place?"

"I am Emerald. I was a Crystal Gem back during the war, but I had gotten captured. Recently, I had tried to escape, but I was caught and shattered."

"Wait, but then…" Connie said, not really sure what to say.

"Us Emeralds have a unique ability," she began. "If our gem is shattered, we can choose to send out our gem to an organic being, giving them the gem and powers of the original Emerald. That's why you're here. I have chosen to transfer my gem to your body, so you can further help in the fight against Homeworld. Don't worry; there's no downside on this for you, although I will cease to exist. Take good care of my gem, kid."

And without another word, Emerald was gone.

...

The next morning, Connie woke up to her parents in her room, with wide eyes.

"CONNIE, WHAT ON EARTH IS ON YOUR CHEST?!"

Connie looked down, and right there, just below her neck, was Emerald's Gem.

"It wasn't a dream…" Connie said, more to herself than anyone else.

"What? What wasn't a dream?! Connie, what in the world is going on here?!"

Connie sighs. She figured that her parents watching as a gem materialized on her chest would freak them out. This is going to be a _long_ morning.

 _Later that day, at the Temple…_

As Connie finished telling Steven and the gems the events of her strange morning, everyone was left speechless. Even Garnet was left in complete shock. And if there wasn't the gem on Connie's chest to prove it, they would've thought she was crazy.

"I've heard of things like this before," Pearl mumbles, "but I never thought that _Connie_ of all people would get an Emerald's gem. Even just _finding_ an Emerald is extremely rare, and a teal one is nearly impossible to find. It's lucky that this Emerald was a Crystal Gem, since it means she could help us one last time."

"Wow!" Steven exclaimed. "So… now you're like me; half-gem, half-human? That's so cool! How does it feel, Connie?"

"It feels… weird. I don't really know how to describe it. But I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also curious about what my new powers are, too."

"I must admit," Garnet adds, "even I couldn't see this coming."

"And guess what?" Connie says. "After a _lot_ of talking, my parents agreed to let me move in with you guys!"

Steven was ecstatic. "AWESOME! Now we can hang out as much as we want! I'll try to help you figure out your new powers, too. Besides, since I'm half-gem too, it should work similarly, right?"

"Uh, not to rain on your parade or anything, but where is Connie even gonna be staying anyway?"

"Amethyst's right. We don't exactly have a lot of space here." Pearl says, with a thoughtful expression.

"Oh! I have an idea!"

"Yes, Steven?"

"How about we share my room? And we'll take turns on sleeping on the couch and sleeping on my bed until we can get a bed for Connie."

"Alright."

"Garnet, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"…Yes."

"Awesome!"

"Now, Connie, just so you know, we'll be taking a break from sword training and focusing on your new powers instead."

"Okay, but I still have to go to school, though. Tomorrow's Friday though, and since there's never school on Saturday and Sunday, we'll have plenty of time to train."

...

The next morning, a pink portal appeared in the outskirts of the parking lot of the school that Connie went to, as Lion hopped out with Steven and Connie riding on his back. Steven was intrigued by how big the building was.

"Whoa! Your school is huge, Connie!"

The school was a large building easily taking up at least two acres for the building alone, which was well needed as some 1,200 students went there. The building had two floors and a rather sizable parking lot. The school was a center for grades 6 through 12, so there were plenty of students who drove their own cars to the school. There were two main areas of the school, the north wing was for grades 6-8, and the south wing for grades 9-12.

As Lion walked up to the school, Steven and Connie continued to talk.

"So, what's school like, Connie?"

"Well… I have eight different classes throughout the day. In each class, me and a bunch of other kids learn about various different subjects such as math, science, and history. School goes from 7:30 am to 2:58 pm. Classes are 47 minutes long, and we get five minutes between classes to go from one classroom to the next. We also get a 32 minute lunch break in the middle of the day. And before you ask, no they don't teach you anything about gem stuff."

"Sounds kinda cool." Lion was now almost there, so the pair had to get off and walk the rest of the way so the other students wouldn't be freaked out when they saw a large, pink magical lion. Connie turned back around to wave goodbye to Steven as she walked towards the building, but in doing so, she failed to notice the car of a half-drunk 12th grader speeding towards her.

"Connie! Look out!" Steven saw the danger, and ran towards her as fast as he could, forming his protective bubble around himself and Connie. Not even a second after, the car collided with the bubble, bringing the car to a sudden stop and sending the bubble with the two flying over towards the building. Luckily, it stopped just short of the school, although the commotion caught the attention of several of the students. Steven dismissed the bubble, as the crowd that had gathered around the duo had started murmuring.

"Connie! Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, Steven, I'm fine." Connie said, feeling a little dazed at what happened. But as Steven helped Connie up, the murmurs of the crowd slowly turned into snickers, and when Steven walked back off as he yelled goodbye, those snickers turned into full bursts of laughter.

Later during lunch, one of the 8th graders walked up to Connie's spot outside on a bench under a tree and started teasing her. "Hey! I've got a question for you. What is a nerdy girl plus a fat boy?"

Connie largely tried to ignore the teasing, but as more kids joined in, it started to get on her nerves, especially when they made fun of Steven.

"Why are you friends with that fat magical kid, huh? I'll bet he's as stupid as you are a nerd. And you're a huge nerd." This comment sent Connie over the edge. "That's enough!"

"Ooh, looks like she blew her fuse. Is it because I called your boyfriend fat and stupid?"

"I said that's _enough_! You can tease me all you like, but call Steven 'fat' or 'stupid' again, and I will destroy you." Connie said, bitterness in her voice.

This made the others burst out in laughter. "Ha! _You_? Destroy _us_? As if!" To prove that she was serious, Connie undid her scarf and revealed the brand new emerald gem that was on her upper chest. The others, however, disregarded it as being fake. "So you glued a piece of plastic to your chest. What do I care?"

At this remark, Connie got up off the bench she was sitting on and proceeded to pick up a large branch that had fallen off of the tree and break it in half as though it was a pencil, proving the incredible strength that came with having a gem. "I'm serious. If you don't stop making fun of Steven, I _will_ destroy you." She said, her tone slightly quiet yet very angry all the same.

Having seen Connie's immense strength, the others decided to back off before she broke their legs. Connie smiled to herself and continued eating her lunch.


	3. Preparation

**Chapter 3: Preparation**

Pearl, Steven, and Connie had just warped to the sky arena for Connie's training. Normally, it would've been just Pearl and Connie, but Pearl figured Steven might be able to help Connie since he is half gem and half human. "Alright, Connie, your first test will be strength. I have various weights here, all ranging from 5 pounds to 2,000 pounds. To start, Steven and I will demonstrate."

Pearl then proceeded to lift up the weights: the 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 she lifted with ease. She then started to struggle at the 1,000, and at the 1,500, she could no longer lift it. Steven was next: he lifted all of the weights up to 700, but the 800 was too heavy for him. Finally, it was Connie's turn. Connie also lifted the weights up to 700. Connie knew gems were strong, but she had no idea that even being half gem would amplify her strength this much.

Next was the 250 meter dash. Pearl completed it in 38 seconds, and Steven did in 40. Meanwhile, Connie finished in 37 seconds.

Connie's last test of the day was to climb a gradually steeper incline, and see how high they could go before they slipped. The incline started at 0° for a level surface, then gradually gets steeper and eventually reaches 90°, straight up. For safety reasons, Pearl had Steven and Connie wear a safety harness. For this test, Pearl fell at 53°, and Steven slipped at 59°. Now, it was Connie's turn. Connie started to advance up the incline. She started to get nervous, so she closed her eyes, and continued up the slope, waiting for when she would slip… but she never did. She opened her eyes, and realized she was at the 86° mark, _while standing like gravity was sideways_. This shocked everyone.

Steven especially seemed excited. "Whoa! Connie, _you can walk up walls?!_ That's so cool!"

Connie then took off the harness and turned around, walking back down. "Well, this has been an interesting training session," Pearl says. "Garnet and Amethyst will certainly be impressed. This concludes today's training. We'll come back next week to try and summon your gem weapon, and perhaps try shape shifting if we have enough time." Pearl, Steven, and Connie then warp back to the temple, ready to tell Amethyst and Garnet about the training session and Connie's new power. However, when they got back, Garnet had a clearly troubled expression on her face. Steven could tell almost immediately. "Um, Garnet? What's up?"

"White Diamond is coming…"

This caught them off guard. "W-White Diamond?!" Pearl stammered. "B-but she's the strongest one!"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. She is bringing her entire army and will be here in 6 days. We have to get ready."

"Have you told Amethyst?"

"Yes. And I've told Peridot and Lapis, too. We may even have to unbubble Bismuth."

"Connie, change of plans. We continue your training tomorrow. Steven, you'll have to train with us, too."

Suddenly, the door to Amethyst's room opened, and Amethyst came walking out. Normally, Amethyst is calm and laid back, but this time, some slight tenseness could be seen in her expression. "Did Garnet tell you?" She asked, seeing the frightened faces of Pearl, Steven, and Connie. Steven was the one to answer. "Yes, she did. We have to start preparing. We just may have the next gem war on our hands. We have to warn the city. Recruit those willing to fight, and evacuate those who can't. Things are about to get ugly."

The next day, Steven, Connie, and Pearl warped back to the ancient sky arena to train. With White Diamond coming in only 5 days, they had to train every day. Pearl then began to talk about the training schedule she would be enforcing for the next few days: 8:00-12:00: Connie will practice using and perfecting her new powers, with the help of the Gems and Steven. 12:00-12:30: Lunch break. 12:30-4:30: Steven and Connie will do battle training. 4:30-5:00: Dinner break. 5:00-9:00: Steven and Connie will train as Stevonnie.

After 3 days, Steven and Connie had gotten much stronger. Connie had discovered more of her powers: her gem weapon was a teal sword, similar to one of Pearl's swords; she can store small items in her gem like Pearl, and she can shape shift some. Connie can shape shift better than Steven, but not as good as Amethyst. It also turns out that the only difference in Stevonnie's appearance is the new gem, and the two gem colors are mixed together; not to mention their fusion weapon was a shield covered in sharp spikes around the edges and on the top, which resembled thorns. Most of Connie's powers had been discovered when Peridot scanned her gem with her new Gem Scanner she had built, which could detect powers in a gem, as well as how they are activated.

...

It was the 5th day since the news. White Diamond would be here tomorrow. The Gems decided it was time to warn the city.

Steven called up Mayor Dewey on his phone. _"This is Mayor Dewey."_ "Mayor Dewey, it's me, Steven Universe." _"Universe. What are you calling about? It had better be important. I'm in the middle of a meeting."_ "Mayor Dewey, White Diamond is coming. We need to evacuate the city! She's bringing her entire army and will be here tomorrow!" _"Wait, what makes you so sure?"_ "Garnet saw it in her future visions. There's no time! We need to get the city to saf-" Steven was cut off by Garnet grabbing the phone. "Steven is right. White Diamond will be here tomorrow morning at approximately 11:24 am." _"How do I know I can trust that you have future vision, 'Garnet'?"_ "Because I know that Steven's phone call interrupted your meeting with the city council. Now; I need you to call a town meeting on the boardwalk within the next 30 minutes."

Mayor Dewey hung up the phone. He wasn't sure what to believe. He soon decided to follow Garnet's advice since there had been a homeworld invasion about 20 months ago. He then gave the news to those in the meeting, and proceeded to call a town meeting.

After about 40 minutes, the residents of Beach City were all crowded around on the boardwalk. Garnet then proceeded to address the crowd. "Attention, Beach City! You must all evacuate the town! White Diamond is coming with her entire army and will be here tomorrow. However, if you would like to help us fight her back, please feel free to join us!" The crowd was silent for a moment before a hand went up in the crowd. Steven noticed that the hand belonged to… Onion. "Onion? You want to help us fight?" Wordlessly, he nodded. "This is great! Anyone else want to help?" Sadie also agreed to help, but the rest of Beach City declined; then proceeded to pack their things and evacuate the city.

Later, at the Temple, Pearl, Amethyst, Peridot, Lapis, Steven, and Connie were in the Beach House waiting for Garnet to come out of the burning room. After a few minutes, the Temple door opened and Garnet came out holding Bismuth's bubble. "Alright, listen up. Bismuth is a crystal gem, but we still need to convince her that she can't shatter a gem, even if they're a homeworld gem, no matter what. Her and Steven had an argument about it, but she didn't seem to listen."

Garnet then popped the bubble, and Bismuth reformed in front of them. "Why did you release me?" Steven then stepped forward. "Bismuth, we need your help. White Diamond and her army is coming and they'll be here tomorrow. I know you and I had a little disagreement about shattering gems. We need you to understand that shattering a gem is wrong, even though you had the right intentions. We choose not to shatter gems because we might be able to convince them to join us."

"Take me, for example." Peridot was the one speaking. "I used to be a Homeworld gem, but when Steven showed me the beauty of the Earth for what it really is, within a few weeks, I ended up calling Yellow Diamond a 'clod' — right to her face. I have been a crystal gem ever since then. Now, if they had chosen to… _shatter_ … me… I never would have become a crystal gem."

The gems continued explaining this to Bismuth. After about 5 minutes, they were done.

"So, do you understand now, Bismuth? Do you understand now why we don't shatter gems?"

Bismuth took this all in. After a minute, she sighed. "Alright. I understand. Thank you for showing me. I promise I won't shatter any gems." The others smiled.

"Now, who are the new recruits?"

"Oh. That's Peridot," Steven said, pointing to the green gem, "That's Lapis, and this is Connie!"

"Nice to meet you. Now let's show homeworld what we can do!"

"Yeah!"


	4. White Diamond Attacks

**Chapter 4: White Diamond Attacks**

 _On Gem Homeworld..._

White Diamond was sitting on her throne, checking on some of the gem colonies and such. She came across the file of the Cluster and saw that it was supposed to have emerged by now, but that it hadn't. White Diamond investigated some more, and saw that there had been some gem interference which was preventing the Cluster from forming. This was surprising. 1,000 years of war and there were still gem rebels left on Earth. She decided to put a stop to this once and for all. She called for her forces to board the ship, as she did the same, and headed off towards Earth on her massive ship.

White Diamond's ship slowly approached Earth. After coming to the conclusion that the Cluster had been stopped, White Diamond knew there had to be gems still on Earth. A large, white ship shaped like a giant arm landed on the moon, next to the gem moon base that had been built there thousands of years ago. White Diamond addressed the gems on the ship. "Attention all gems: There is a group of gem rebels which still reside on Earth, who have somehow managed to survive the war. We are here to destroy those gems, and take over the Earth once and for all. I will be sending a Jasper to investigate and gather information."

...

A Jasper approached White Diamond's throne. The Jasper saluted White Diamond. "My Diamond; Jasper reporting in." She said.

" _Which_ Jasper?" She questioned.

"Jasper Facet 4H2J Cut 2XL. You've called for me, my Diamond?"

"Yes, I did. I am sending you to Earth to investigate the group of gem rebels residing there. You are to remain out of sight, gather information on the gems, and see if they have any human allies. Then you are to report back to me. Do you understand?"

The Jasper saluted again. "Yes, my Diamond."

"Good. You are to leave immediately."

...

The Jasper arrived on Earth next to the lighthouse. Immediately, she saw the giant statue carved into the side of a cliff. She decided to investigate. Making sure to stay hidden, she crept over to the beach house, and crouched low peeking around a corner to use a gem scanner. The scanner revealed each of the gems, as well as Steven, Connie, Sadie, and Onion. She crept over to a window to peek in.

"Something's not right…. White Diamond's army should've been here by now," said Pearl. 'Ugh,' Jasper thought. 'Of course the Sapphire would use her future vision to warn the others.' But there was something amiss. The Sapphire was nowhere to be seen. And neither was the Ruby that the scanners had also picked up. Looking more closely, the Jasper saw a gem she had never seen before. And it looked to be… a fusion? That must be the Ruby and Sapphire. But why were they fused if they weren't fighting anything?

"They've probably sent a spy here to gather information about what they're up against." The fusion. The Jasper knew if she hung around for much longer that she would be found out. Deciding quickly, she headed off to investigate the nearby town. When the Jasper got there, she at first tried to remain out of sight, but quickly noticed the whole town was abandoned. Jasper continued to investigate the area, and, upon realizing that there was nothing in the abandoned Beach City, she decided to try to spy on the gems again.

This time, though, Jasper investigated by placing a very small camera-like device on a windowsill and watching on her device from afar. She didn't gain much information afterwards that would be useful in battle, although she noticed a few things about their personalities: Steven was cheerful and friendly, Connie was intelligent and kind-hearted, Garnet was calm and stoic, Amethyst was laid-back and carefree, Pearl was obsessive and cautious, Onion literally never spoke a word, Lapis Lazuli was relaxed and straightforward, Peridot was technical and logical, Sadie was friendly and polite, and Bismuth was courageous and slightly enthusiastic. Realizing there was nothing else to gather about the gem rebels, she sneaked off to report her findings to White Diamond. After finding a good location to hide in, the Jasper pulled out the Diamond Communication Channel device and twisted it in a way so that it would contact White Diamond.

"My Diamond; Jasper reporting in. There appears to be a group of gems residing in the side of a cliff. Scanners show a Pearl, an Amethyst, a Bismuth, a Peridot, a Lapis, and a Ruby and Sapphire, which are currently fused together. Scanners have also picked up two humans and two gem/human hybrids; one is a Rose Quartz hybrid and the other is an Emerald hybrid. There is also a nearby collection of structures and dwellings, but it would appear to have recently been deserted."

"Thank you for your report, Jasper. I will be sending you and a group of Rubies to dispose of them. You are to destroy them and shatter their gemstones, and bring their shards to me."

"Understood. Should I dispose of their human allies as well, my Diamond?" The Jasper asked, inquisitively.

"No; leave them. If they want to be a problem, it will be their downfall."

"Yes, my Diamond. Jasper, out."


	5. A Gem and a Hard Place

**Chapter 5: A Gem and a Hard Place**

White Diamond's Jasper arrived back on the Earth shortly after, as well as a group of ten Rubies. Amethyst saw the Jasper's arrival on the beach. Immediately, she could tell that this Jasper was even stronger than the Jasper that got corrupted. Amethyst quickly ran to tell the others.

"Pearl! Garnet! Connie! Steven! Lapis! Peridot! Bismuth! Onion! Sadie! We've got a problem!"

"What? What is it?!" Pearl asked, frantically hurrying to the window Amethyst was peering out of with everyone else following not too long after. Peridot was the first one to comment on the sight they saw.

"Another Jasper? That clod looks even tougher than the Jasper that got corrupted! She's even got a squadron of Rubies!" She exclaimed.

"Calm down, Peri. There are ten of us now; eleven if you count Garnet as two." Amethyst said, though there was some apprehension in her voice as she said this. "Not to mention, Rubies are fairly easy to take out compared to most other gems, even some of the corrupted gems. We should be able to beat them."

The gems, Steven, Connie, Onion, and Sadie were peering out the window at the Jasper that was on the beach. Suddenly, the Jasper seemed to notice them, as she looked directly at them through the window.

"Looks like she knows we're here." Garnet said. "Sadie, Onion, you two stay here. We'll handle this noise."

"Got it."

The gems, Steven, and Connie went out to confront the Jasper and the Rubies. When they were all outside, Jasper addressed them. "Crystal Gems! I have been sent here by White Diamond to destroy you! Resistance is futile! Albeit entertaining…" Jasper said, saying the last part a bit more quietly.

"You need to leave _immediately_!" Garnet warned.

"Yeah, step off!" Amethyst added, with a slight snarl.

"Get out of here you clods!" Peridot yelled.

"This is not a gem-controlled planet." Said Pearl, in a surprisingly level tone, but still clearly panicked, nonetheless.

The Jasper laughed. "Ha ha! Well, well, well. What do we have here?" She said coldly. "Some lost, defective Pearl," she said, gesturing to Pearl, "a puny, overcooked runt," gesturing to Amethyst, "some construction gem," gesturing to Bismuth, "an Era-2 technician," gesturing to Peridot, "this shameless display," gesturing to Garnet, "a Lapis Lazuli," gesturing to Lapis, "and two pathetic _hybrids_?!" She finished, gesturing to Steven and Connie with clear disgust. "Do you really think you can beat me and my Ruby crew?!" As she said that, the Rubies behind her called out in agreement as they all got into a fighting stance.

The gems readied their weapons, and the ten Rubies fused into two large Rubies of five each. Jasper pulled out two gem destabilizers and charged at the gems. She poofed Amethyst, and tried to poof Steven, but was shocked to discover that he was immune to it, as Steven fought back to keep the Jasper from shattering Amethyst. Meanwhile, Lapis, Bismuth, and Connie were fighting one of the Ruby fusions, and Peridot, Pearl, and Garnet were fighting the other one.

The Ruby fusion that Pearl, Peridot, and Garnet were fighting had picked up a nearby metal rod and was trying to hit Pearl with it. "You pathetic thing. Who did you used to belong to before you defected?" The Ruby fusion chided, as Pearl caught the rod in her hands and was attempting to fight back.

"That is none of your concern," she said. "Peridot! Use your ferrokinesis!"

"My _what_?" The green gem called out in confusion.

"Your metal powers!" Garnet clarified.

"Oh! Right!" Peridot reached out her hands and 'grabbed' the metal rod from the Ruby and proceeded to use it against the Ruby fusion until finally, they unfused. Garnet and Pearl then proceeded to take out and bubble the Rubies one by one with little effort.

Meanwhile, Lapis, Bismuth, and Connie were having a little bit of trouble with the other Ruby fusion. Bismuth had shape shifted her hands into hammers and was pounding away at the Ruby, but the fusion blocked most of her attacks. Connie pulled out her sword and attempted to flank the Ruby fusion, but they turned around and punched Connie. Hard. She flew back over towards where Steven was struggling to fight the Jasper as she fell on the ground in pain. Lapis used her water wings to fly up, carrying Bismuth, and threw Bismuth down at the Ruby fusion, who struck with incredible force.

Meanwhile, the Jasper was blocking every attack that Steven was throwing at her, as Amethyst was reforming. After Amethyst reformed, she ran over to the other gems to help them with the Ruby fusion.

The Jasper then kicked Steven, sending him flying over to where Connie was laying. "S-Steven! We need to fuse into Stevonnie!" Connie called. Immediately, Steven knew what the plan was. "Right!" The two joined hands, and in a flash of light, Stevonnie was standing where the two young teens had been. They pulled out their shield and sword, and brought them together to form their spiked shield. Stevonnie charged at the Jasper, who put her gem destabilizers away and pulled out her gem weapon: a battle axe. Jasper tried to strike Stevonnie, but they blocked the attack. Then, the Jasper pulled out another battle axe and blindsided Stevonnie, causing them to unfuse. They both lay on the sandy beach in pain.

Connie watched in horror as the Jasper walked up to Steven, and struck her battle axe into his torso, instantly causing him to poof. "N-no… No! STEVEN!" The Jasper picked up his gem, about to shatter him. Connie got up, ignoring her body screaming in pain, and pulled out two swords and charged at the Jasper, and struck the swords into her head and torso, poofing her. Connie bubbled the Jasper and made her swords disappear as she fell back down to the ground in pain, clutching Steven's gem. "Steven! I'm so sorry."

The other gems had poofed and bubbled the remaining Rubies and had watched as Steven got poofed and almost was shattered before Connie poofed the Jasper. They all had looks of shock, horror, and fear on their faces. Connie, Pearl, and Peridot were crying, and the rest were struggling to hold back tears of their own.

The gems walked back into the temple, with Garnet carrying Connie, and saw the look on Sadie and Onion's faces, and knew they saw Steven get poofed as well. Garnet proceeded to walk up the stairs and placed Connie on Steven's bed, who was still crying from Steven getting poofed. Pearl, Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth went to their respective areas; Pearl going into her room in the temple, Lapis and Peridot going back to the barn, and Bismuth going to the forge. Garnet and Sadie went up to try and comfort Connie, who was clutching Steven's gem in her hands, and Amethyst and Onion just stood back in silence, who had looks of concern and sympathy on their faces.


	6. Poofed

**Chapter 6: Poofed**

Connie sighs. Tears were running down her face as she held Steven's gem in her hands, curled up on Steven's bed. It had only been two hours since Steven had been poofed, but it felt like it had been much longer.

Garnet then walked in. "How are you holding up, Connie?"

"I feel so bad. If I was still next to him, I-I could've protected him…." Connie said, choking on a sob. "It's okay, Connie. You saved him from being shattered by that Jasper, after all. Even if Steven did get poofed, you managed to save his life." This made Connie feel a little better.

"Garnet… is Steven going to be able to regenerate?"

Garnet adjusted her visor as she looked at the possible futures. Her normally near-expressionless face slowly turned into a look of worry. It wasn't looking good.

"I'm afraid that the chances are slim. Out of the five possible futures I saw, Steven only regenerates in one of them. The other four… he stays in his gem forever. I… I'm sorry." That made Connie scared. Garnet proceeded to walk back into the temple. She decided it might be better if she didn't tell the others of the possible futures she saw and to hope for the best.

"Please come back, Steven… I miss you so much…"

...

"Whoa… where am I?"

Steven woke up in a strange, yet familiar, place. He looked around, and quickly realized he was in his gem. He also realized he could see outside, and everything was tinted pink. His expression quickly changed from curiosity to worry when he saw Connie lying on his bed, crying while holding his gem. "Connie!"

"I'm so sorry, Steven… I should've been there to protect you. W-what if I… what if I never see you again?" Steven felt heartbroken seeing Connie with several tears flowing down her face. He wished he could tell her that he was fine, but he didn't even know if he could regenerate.

He then decided he would see if he could regenerate by thinking about doing so. He concentrated really hard… nothing. He tried again… still nothing. Worry surged through his mind. What if he never figured out how to regenerate? What if he _couldn't_ regenerate? The gems and especially Connie would be heartbroken. Then, a thought crossed his mind.

"What if I'm just simply too injured to regenerate?" If that was the case, he just needed to wait a little while longer.

...

It had been two days since Steven was poofed, and he still hadn't regenerated yet. The gems and Connie were getting worried. Without him, it would be harder to fight against White Diamond's forces, since Steven was the one with the shield. So far, though, it had been particularly quiet, so Connie was on Steven's bed holding his gem again. Meanwhile, in his gem, Steven decided to try regenerating again. He decided to try thinking of what he wanted his form to look like this time. He concentrated very hard…

…and he could feel it working. Connie watched excitedly as Steven's gem rose from her hands. The gem emitted light as Steven's form materialized in front of Connie as she felt happy for the first time since he was poofed. Finally, after a couple of seconds, Steven's body finished forming and he floated down onto the bed on his hands and knees in front of Connie.

Connie was quick to tackle him to the bed as she embraced him in a big hug. "STEVEN! Oh I'm so glad that you're okay! I-I was so worried! I was afraid I'd never see you again." Connie said, crying in Steven's shoulder. "Don't worry, Connie. I'm alright. Thanks to you."

"More than you know." The two kids turned to see Garnet standing in the common area down below. "Connie saved your life, Steven. White Diamond's Jasper was about to shatter your gem when Connie rushed in and saved you."

Upon hearing that, Steven turned back around to give Connie a hug. "Really? Thanks so much, Connie!"

"Well, I couldn't just lay there and watch that Jasper kill my first friend and boyfriend, no matter how much pain I was in. I just wish I could've stopped her from poofing you, though."

"Hey. All that matters is that you saved my life. I'm fine now. Thank you, Connie."

...

Unbeknownst to the gems, one of the Rubies had escaped from the fight earlier. The lone Ruby had fled to the abandoned Beach City and proceeded to contact White Diamond. "My Diamond, Ruby reporting in. The 'Crystal Gems', as they call themselves, have bested the others in battle. I had only barely managed to escape."

"So it would seem that they are stronger than we originally thought.…" White Diamond mused. "Did you manage to gather any new information on the alleged 'Crystal Gems'?"

"Yes, my Diamond. It would seem that the gem hybrids are immune to our Gem Destabilizers despite having full gem abilities, and are incredibly powerful when they work together. Not to mention, the Pearl also seems to act of her own free accord."

"Alright, then. We'll just have to capture one of them to lure the rest into a deadly trap!" White Diamond said, laughing maniacally.


	7. Captured

**Chapter 7: Captured**

Steven was fighting against White Diamond herself along with Connie. The gems had been captured; they were the only ones left. But White Diamond had trapped the two against a corner. She fired up her energy beam from her hands. "Farewell, you miserable hybrids…" she said, as she fired, directly hitting both Steven and Connie.

"Ah!"

Steven woke up with a jolt. It was just a dream, thankfully. Steven's panicked cry had woken Connie up from the air mattress on the other side of Steven's room that was serving as her bed. Concerned, she ran over to Steven to see what was wrong.

"Steven, what is it?" She asked.

"It was just awful, Connie. White Diamond was here, and the gems were captured, and it was just us left, but we got trapped, a-and she—"

"Hey, don't worry, Steven. It was just a dream. Everything's going to be fine." Connie said, feeling fairly sympathetic that Steven had to go through that, even if it was just a dream. "Besides, when we do go up against White Diamond, we'll definitely be able to kick her butt!" She added with some enthusiasm.

Steven couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, you're right. Good night, Connie."

"Good night, Steven." Connie replied, heading back to her bed.

...

The next morning, Steven and Connie woke up to a loud noise outside. They both ran over, and saw that a Roaming Eye had landed, and the door was open, and a few Rubies were walking out, as well as a familiar-looking Agate gem. "Who is that?" Connie asked.

"That's the gem that was in charge of Pink Diamond's human zoo that I told you about." Steven told her. "But I thought she was one of Blue Diamond's, not White Diamond's." Although, as it turns out, this was not that same gem. Her gemstone was located on her lower back instead of on the back of her neck, although, as they would soon find out, she did have the same gem weapon: an electric whip.

"We should probably go out there and take care of them, right?"

"Yeah, but what about the Gems? Shouldn't we wait until they come back first?" Steven asked, concerned slightly.

"Well, there are only about four Rubies out there," Connie reasoned. "And besides, we do have Onion here to help us, although I'm not sure where Sadie went." The pair turned around to see that Onion was, indeed, on the couch.

"Well, okay, but I'm still not so sure about this." Steven replied hesitantly.

"Onion." Connie called over. As if he knew exactly what was going on, Onion got up and followed Steven and Connie outside. The Holly Blue Agate almost immediately saw the three, and her and the Rubies all ran over to attack. Steven and Connie pulled out their shield and sword, respectively, and also began to run over, but before either of the two could make a move, Onion ran over and back-flipped, kicking one Ruby with both legs and punching another with both fists, poofing both of them immediately. The other two Rubies saw this, and fused together to make an only slightly taller Ruby, and proceeded to fight Onion. Realizing that Onion was a lot tougher than they first thought, Steven and Connie decided to take on the Holly Blue Agate themselves.

The Agate pulled out her electric whip and proceeded to lash it at Steven, but he was able to block the hit with his shield. Steven proceeded to pull out another shield and throw it at the Agate, and hit her in the chest, but it wasn't enough to poof her, so she pulled out another electric whip, and lashed one at both Steven and Connie. Steven was able to block the whip with his shield, and Connie tried to slice it with her sword, but wasn't fast enough, as the whip electrocuted her as it wrapped around her. The Holly Blue Agate pulled her whip back, pulling Connie along with it, and looked around to try to locate the Rubies that she was with, but saw that Onion had poofed all four of them. Seeing as she was the only one left, Holly Blue Agate retreated back to the Roaming Eye, with Connie in tow, still shocked from the electric whip.

"CONNIE!" Steven called out. " _HEY_! Let go of Connie or else!"

But before Steven could do anything, Connie was thrown into the ship, and the Agate turned around and said one thing: "Not a chance." She closed the door as Steven was running up to do whatever he could to rescue Connie before the ship took off, leaving just Onion and a very distraught Steven behind. "Connie…."

Steven went over and bubbled the four Rubies that Onion had poofed, and went back into the house with tears welling in his eyes. Not too long after, the warp pad lit up, as all the others appeared. Immediately, Pearl noticed that Connie wasn't there. "Um, Steven? Where's Connie?"

"S-she was… she was captured b-by a Homeworld gem and taken to space…. I-I tried to save her, but I… wasn't fast enough…." Steven replied, clearly distraught.

"WHAT?!" Pearl yelled. "First Blue Diamond takes Greg and now _this_?!"

"Oh, when I get my hands on them…." Amethyst muttered darkly.

Steven was quick to get the others on board what they needed to do. "Guys, we have to go get Connie!"

"Oh, no no, Steven. We'll get Connie. You stay here." Pearl interjected.

"You have literally been training him for situations like this." Amethyst deadpanned.

"Oh… r-right… I forgot… heh…."

"Come on you guys, there's no time to lose! Connie's in trouble and she needs our help!" Steven said, already starting to have a mental breakdown over what had happened.

...

Meanwhile, on White Diamond's ship, the gem soldiers threw Connie in a specialized jail cell to keep her in, since she was immune to the Anti-Gem force-field on their normal jail cells. Connie had only just recovered from the shock of electricity from Holly Blue's electric whip, so she had been powerless to fight back.


	8. Stealing the Emerald

**Chapter 8: Stealing the Emerald**

Steven and the Gems quickly set off to board the Roaming Eye to rescue Connie.

"Garnet…" Steven said morosely, "where would they be keeping Connie?"

"Hmm…. According to my future vision, they are most likely holding her in a specialized jail cell on White Diamond's ship on the moon. They know that anti-Gem technology doesn't work on her."

"Hang on. Why… why didn't you foresee Connie being captured?!" Steven yelled, frustrated. "You could've helped me save her before the ship left with her! You could've stopped her from being tied up in the first place!"

"Steven. My future vision doesn't work that way. My future vision is rather similar to any other gem weapon. There are times when it is being used, and there are times when it is not being used." Garnet replied as everyone boarded the Roaming Eye.

"I sure hope we can get her back." Steven said, suddenly calm again.

As they headed off into space, the only thoughts that would come into Steven's mind were ones of despair, fear, and regret. ' _What if I never get to see her again?_ ' ' _Why couldn't I save her in time?_ ' ' _What if I'm too late and she's gone forever?_ ' No. She had to be okay. She just _had_ to be. Steven just couldn't lose Connie because he was too slow to save her. They would get Connie back, no matter what.

"There it is." Peridot's statement broke Steven out of his line of thoughts. "White Diamond's ship."

"Don't worry, Connie." Steven said as though she could hear him. "We're coming to save you."

As the Roaming Eye approached the ship entry area of White Diamond's ship, the door opened to let them land the ship inside. After they landed the ship, Garnet addressed the others. "Alright; here's the plan. On the second level of the ship is where Connie is being held. There will be guards keeping watch over Connie's cell. We run in, take out the guards, grab the key, get Connie, and get out of here. I have a smoke bomb for in case we need it."

The ship's landing area was surprisingly unguarded. However, the gems readied their weapons just in case, with Peridot using her metal powers to grab some metal rods they had brought with them.

The first floor was suspiciously empty as well, as they were able to make it to the elevator without so much as even seeing a single Homeworld gem. The reason for that became clear immediately upon reaching the second floor. There were gem soldiers around every corner, and they immediately spotted them and attacked.

"Hey! Guys; come on over here!" Steven called out. Once they got over to where Steven was, he formed an extra-large bubble with spikes around himself and the others, and plowed through most of the gem soldiers, even poofing a few. When they got to the jail cell areas, Steven had to let his bubble down so they could split up to find Connie. "Alright everyone," Steven said, "we need to find Connie fast as we can!" Nobody hesitated to do so, all heading off to find Connie.

"Connie, where are you?!" Steven called out. When he didn't get a response, he prepared to try again, but was interrupted by a certain Agate gem.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing here?" She questioned. Steven spun around to be face-to-face with the very same Holly Blue Agate that had captured Connie and brought her there in the first place.

"You! You're the gem that kidnapped Connie! Tell me where she is!" Steven yelled. "Well? _Where is she?!_ "

"I don't have to tell you that. You'll never find her! You may as well give up now."

"NEVER!" Steven yelled, as he got out his shield.

The Holly Blue Agate pulled out her electric whip and charged at Steven. She tried to hit him with it but Steven jumped out of the way. Steven quickly turned around and punched the gem as hard as he could, sending her flying over towards the wall. Before she even had a chance to recover, Steven ran in and jumped up, summoning his spiky bubble, and slammed himself down into the gem, causing a large crater and instantly poofing her. He dismissed the bubble, and bubbled the gem, sending it off to the burning room, and continued searching for Connie.

"Connie?! Where are you, Connie?!" Steven called out again.

"S-Steven?!" Steven immediately perked up upon hearing her voice.

"Connie! Where are you at, Connie?" He yelled.

"I'm over here, Steven!"

Steven ran towards the sound of Connie's voice. After a few seconds, he found Connie in a cell with bars made of solid obsidian; a material that gems were powerless against. There was also an Amethyst gem laying on the ground, with the key next to it.

"Steven!" Connie said, her scared expression fading away with a smile replacing it.

"CONNIE! YOU'RE OKAY!"

Steven ran over so fast that he almost ran straight into the obsidian bars, picking up the key and unlocking the cell. He opened the door, and both of them ran towards each other and embraced in a hug. "Connie! I'm so, so glad you're okay! I was so worried!" He said, with tears in his eyes.

"Thanks for coming to get me, Steven." Connie said, also with tears in her eyes.

"I would never just leave you, Connie. You're everything to me." Steven replied as they headed back.

The pair went back and found the others, and, after they all expressed their relief for Connie's safety, started to head back to the ship. But before they could even find it, a certain voice stopped them in their tracks. "Oh, no you _don't_!"

Slowly, everybody turned around. When they saw who it was, they all paled with fear.

It was White Diamond herself.


	9. Cracked

**Chapter 9: Cracked**

"And just _where_ do you think you're going?" White Diamond questioned.

After having found and rescued Connie, everyone was heading back to the Roaming Eye to return to Earth, but White Diamond had caught them before they could leave.

"We're just heading back to Earth after having rescued Connie from being kidnapped by _your_ army!" Steven replied coldly.

"Yeah! Why would you even want to capture Connie in the first place? What could you _possibly_ have to gain from such a sick stunt anyway?!" Amethyst added. "You should know that we would come here to rescue her!"

"That's exactly what I was counting on." White Diamond said. Then, she grabbed a nearby blaster that happened to be on the ground. The blaster looked like a gem destabilizer, but with four prongs around a ball of white energy instead of two prongs around a ball of yellow energy. White Diamond proceeded to charge up the blaster and aimed for Connie. The blast of pure energy struck Connie in the chest, but thankfully, it missed her gem. The blast of energy sent Connie into the wall with great force. Steven watched terrified as she slid down into a sitting position, moaning in pain. Concerned, Steven ran over to make sure that Connie was alright.

"Connie! Connie, are you okay?" Steven asked, worry etched in his voice.

"Y-yeah, Steven… I'm… fine…" Connie said weakly, though it was clear that she was far from it.

Meanwhile, as the gems were hurrying towards the ship, they failed to notice that White Diamond charged up the blaster again, once again aiming for Connie, though it was clear that this shot would be much more powerful than the last one. Steven, however, saw this as he turned around to face White Diamond, his expression bold and challenging with some anger in it. Steven proceeded to pull out his shield as White Diamond fired again, catching the attention of the gems as the blast of pure energy struck the shield.

"Steven!" Connie watched, terrified, as the blast of energy wore down Steven's shield, quickly causing it to dissipate as the blast struck Steven squarely in his gem, creating a sizable crack. Garnet also saw this and ran out picking up both Steven and Connie, carrying them back to the ship, which quickly took off before White Diamond even had a chance to stop them. The ship took off towards Earth with the gems, Connie, and the injured Steven in tow.

...

Back at the temple, Steven and Connie were waiting for the gems to return with some of the water from Rose's healing fountain since it turned out that none of Steven's powers — including his healing spit — would work when his gem was cracked. It had been something that they had already tried, since Steven's healing spit had fixed the cracked gemstones of other gems. However, it was made apparent that his powers didn't work with a cracked gem.

Right now, Steven was laying down on the couch as Connie watched to make sure that nothing bad would happen. So far, everything was going alright, as Steven's crack hadn't grown any larger.

"Steven, I'm so sorry." Connie said, looking at Steven's cracked gem. "I can't believe this happened to you…."

"It's okay, Connie. It's not your fault." Steven replied. "Besides, once the gems get back with some of the healing water from my mom's fountain, I'll be back to normal." Connie smiled a little upon hearing this.

As Steven said this, however, the crack in his gem got slightly bigger, causing his body to glitch out, much to Connie's horror, especially as she realized that the crack in his gem wouldn't need to get much bigger before Steven's gem would get shattered completely.

"Ah! Steven!" Connie shrieked. "Your gem! It got even more cracked!"

"Oh no…" Steven muttered.

"I sure hope that the others are hurrying up with getting that healing water…" Connie said as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. She was scared that the gems might be too late to save Steven. Even just the thought of losing Steven was just too much for Connie to handle. She wouldn't know what to do without him. After all, they meant the world to each other.

"Yeah. Me too…." Steven replied. Likewise, Steven was also scared. Since he could retreat into his gem, it was certain that if his gem got shattered, it would ultimately be the death of him. Steven knew that everyone he knew would be devastated. His dad would never be able to get over it. Connie would likely go into a depression from losing him. The gems, especially Pearl, would never be able to forgive themselves for failing to protect him. Nobody would ever be the same if Steven was shattered.

Thankfully, the warp pad lit up, signifying that the gems were back. Noticing how much bigger the crack in Steven's gem had gotten, Garnet quickly hurried over and poured the healing water onto Steven's cracked gem. Everybody watched as Steven's gem glowed in response as the crack slowly closed itself.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Connie said. "I'm so glad you're okay Steven. I was so scared." She said, giving Steven a hug, which he gladly returned. The gems were also glad to see Steven back to normal, all of them showing their shared relief in their own ways. Needless to say, though, they all were very relieved that Steven was okay.

...

Back on White Diamond's ship, however, White Diamond was frustrated over her most recent failed plan. Sitting at her throne, White Diamond proceeded to lay out her next plan of attack. "Those darn Crystal Gems…." She muttered. "They're going down once and for all!" She said, as she laughed maniacally. "As soon as I figure out how…."


	10. The New Temple Room

**Chapter 10: The New Temple Room**

After the recent incident of Connie being captured and Steven's gem getting cracked, it really helped that today was particularly quiet. Although White Diamond was still plotting against the gems, trying to figure out how to defeat them, there weren't any more attacks from White Diamond or her army yet so far.

Connie, Onion, Sadie, and Amethyst had decided to sleep in a little longer with the peaceful day that they had so far. Meanwhile, Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, and Pearl were at the barn building a realistic battle simulator for training sessions, while Steven and Garnet were working on a brand new addition to the temple….

 _Two hours later…_

"Hey Connie."

Connie opened her eyes to see Garnet standing next to her temporary bed on the air mattress with her usual calm expression, though it was clear to see that she was also smiling.

"Yeah… Garnet?" She replied yawning.

"How would you like to see something cool?" She replied, using a fairly quiet voice so as not to wake anyone else.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well, let's just say there's been a new… _addition_ to the temple." Garnet replied.

The two went down the stairs and Garnet led Connie to the temple door. Garnet proceeded to pull out Peridot's gem scanner she had borrowed and scanned Connie, much to her confusion. Through a short but complicated series of actions, Garnet added a teal 'gem' in the middle of the star on the temple door, which would be used to access the new room in the Temple.

After Garnet finished, she showed Connie the new symbol on the temple door. "Connie, this is a little something that Steven and I have been working on for the past few hours. You now have your very own room in the temple, just like me, Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven." Garnet explained.

"Wow. Cool!" Connie exclaimed. "So, how do I get in?"

"I figured you would ask me that." Garnet replied, pulling out the scanner again. She then used the scanner, on the temple's door this time, and the instructions on how Connie can open the temple door appeared on the screen.

After Connie read the instructions, she gave Garnet a quick nod, then proceeded to follow the directions. Connie closed her eyes and lifted her hands up to her gem, which began to glow. The gem on the temple door also began to glow, and shortly after, the door split into four sections from four spiraling light-blue lines coming out from the center of the star, which then pulled away completely to reveal the brand new room in the temple.

Inside of the room was quite interesting. Inside, there appeared to be a semi-large room with walls painted into a landscape of what appeared to be a volcano with several cracks in the rock and pools of boiling water around it. The sky was painted a deep bluish-purple color dotted with several stars and a full moon high in the sky. Although the landscape was painted, it was done so in a way that made it look realistic enough that it appeared as though the landscape was actually there, instead of painted on a wall.

The actual room portion itself was actually quite similar to a bedroom. There was a small bed with blue fitted sheets and pillows, a wooden desk with a table lamp, a dresser, and a closet inside, which all matched the painted landscape of the walls very well. There was also a bookshelf built into the wall with several books on it. Inside, Steven could also be seen putting the finishing touches on the room and straightening everything out.

"Oh, hi Connie!" Steven greeted cheerfully. "How do you like it? Garnet helped me design the walls."

"It's _beautiful_!" Connie said. "I can't believe you guys did all this for me!"

"Eh, it's no trouble." Garnet replied casually.

"Wait, wait. There's more…!" Steven said, pulling out a small cardboard box from under the bed and handing it to Connie. When she opened it, it revealed to be holding a light blue T-shirt with a yellow star sowed on to the middle, making it look like Steven's shirt, but with a homemade touch added on.

"Do you like it?" Steven asked. "Garnet and I went and bought the shirt, and Pearl sowed the star on!"

"I love it! This is so cool you guys!" Connie said. "Also, I think this is my new favorite shirt." She added, making herself and Steven start laughing.

...

Meanwhile, on White Diamond's ship, White Diamond had finally come up with a plan to defeat the gems. She ordered that the gem technicians begin working on creating the ultimate creature of chaos and destruction…


	11. Creatures and Machines

**Chapter 11: Creatures and Machines**

"Alright, everyone!" Peridot announced to everyone, who were at the barn gathered around a large tarp outside. "Introducing… the all new Realistic Training Machine 5000!" The others just looked at her. "What? It's the best name I could come up with. Anyway… behold!" She said, pulling the sheet off of the invention. It was what looked to be a large room with almost a dozen chairs with odd-looking helmets attached to tubes and wires leading up to the ceiling.

"Wow…" The others could only look on in surprised amazement; except for Pearl, Lapis, and Bismuth, seeing as how they had helped in the construction.

"This is a highly complex machine, although using it is simple enough, seeing as how it acts as a realistic simulator. You just take a seat in one of these chairs and put the helmet on." Peridot said, as she began to explain how it worked. "There are four difficulty settings for this simulator: 'Easy', 'Normal', 'Hard', and 'All-Out War'. One of us will select the appropriate difficulty level, and when everyone is ready, the simulation will begin. This simulation is designed to make it feel as though you are in the real battle, but you will not sustain any pain. So, say Steven's leg got hit with a heavy blow. The simulator would not make him feel any pain, but his movements will be slightly restricted, as in it is harder to run, to provide accurate battle experience."

Peridot continued to explain the features of the simulator as everyone there gradually got tired of hearing all of this.

 _25 minutes later…_

"…and finally, defeating every gem soldier will result in victory, ending the simulation." Peridot said, bringing her _very_ lengthy explanation to an end.

"Ugh; finally." Amethyst muttered. "I thought this would never end."

"Well, in any case, we should start training. Who knows what kind of attack White Diamond is planning now?" Pearl said. "Although, that _was_ pretty long. Peridot took almost 30 minutes to explain everything."

Everyone proceeded to sit in a chair and put the helmet on. Peridot set the difficulty to "Normal", and the battle simulation began.

...

Meanwhile, on White Diamond's ship, White Diamond's Peridots were nearly finished constructing the creature of chaos. "Pick up the pace, gems!" White Diamond ordered. "I need this creature to be finished by the next Earth rotation."

"Yes, my Diamond." The Peridots responded.

One Peridot proceeded to turn the power levels up while another tossed an assortment of items in: a laser blaster, a small black bow tie, a spare limb enhancer, a small top hat, a container with mysterious unknown properties, and multiple vials holding various radioactive chemicals. However, what nobody saw, was that a Dorito had fallen in from a nearby Ruby's lunch, who, like Amethyst, just liked to eat even though gems don't need to.

The machine whirred to life, and the process of the creature's creation began to occur. The specialized personality part of the machine added in traits like cockiness and, of course, loyalty to the Diamonds.

Finally, after several hours, the creature was completed.

"Well hello there! My name is Phil Cipher." It said in a slightly echoey voice. When the creature emerged, it was what appeared to be a yellow triangle with a pyramid pattern on its lower half and one eye, a black top hat, a black bow tie, and black, long, skinny arms and legs, with no mouth. "Nice to meet ya!" Its body flashed whenever he talked.

White Diamond was intrigued by this new creature. "Well hello there, Phil. I must ask; what all can you do?"

"Oh, I can do lots of things!" Phil said with a cocky edge to his voice. **"Lots of things…"** he repeated, in a much darker voice, his eye turning into an image of a swirling galaxy, before turning back into his eye. "Hey, check this out." He said, before using his powers to summon a deer, then pulled out its teeth with his telekinesis. "Deer teeth. For you, White." He said, dropping the teeth into White Diamond's hand, who dropped them in disgust.

"You're insane!" A Peridot said, recoiling back in horror.

"Sure I am. What's your point?" Phil replied, using his telekinesis to return the teeth back to the deer's mouth, then making it disappear.

"Alright, Phil. I'm impressed. Now, I have a job for you." White Diamond said. "I need you to destroy the 'Crystal Gems' for me. In return, you'll get to rule the universe alongside us."

"Alright. I'm interested. Let's shatter those nuisances." Phil replied, laughing maniacally along with White Diamond.

...

After several hours of training, the Crystal Gems finally felt ready for White Diamond's next attack. Garnet had even split up so that Ruby and Sapphire could train for in case they got separated somehow, which, although unlikely, did appear as a possibility in Garnet's future vision.

But what Garnet's future vision didn't tell her about was that a certain triangular chaos maker was on its way to attack them.


	12. Phil Cipher

**Chapter 12: Phil Cipher**

As Phil Cipher headed off towards Earth to battle the Crystal Gems, meanwhile, Steven, Connie, Sadie, Onion, and the gems were all watching TV, some of them eating popcorn while doing so.

 _"Careful, Chad. I hear that a dangerous creature is on its way…"_ , the TV blared. Just then, an explosion nearby startled everyone as the TV continued playing. Everyone ran outside to see none other than Phil Cipher himself, brushing himself off in the distance on the beach. "Oh, man. That landing sure could've gone a lot better." He said, seemingly having not noticed the gems yet.

"What… _is_ that thing?" Connie asked.

At this question, Peridot pulled out her scanner, and used it on Phil. "It would seem that this thing is not a gem, as my scanners aren't showing anything for gem information." Peridot replied. "Although, I am getting some information on it anyway…" she continued, then showed the screen to the others.

Garnet proceeded to read what the screen said aloud. "Well, according to the scanner; it says: 'Phil is a cunning, eccentric, insane, psychopathic, and physically irreverent demon who finds most things amusing. He's outrageous and outlandish, as well as a quick talker and thinker. Though he may come across as simply annoying, he shouldn't be underestimated; for when he is angered, he's a force to be reckoned with as he will unleash his powers on those unfortunate enough to make him angry. When accused of being insane, Phil proudly agrees with the statement.

"'Phil is a yellow, triangular creature who has a single large eye rimmed with four short black lashes on the top and bottom. He moves around mostly by floating about, and rarely actually stands on his own two feet. He has thin, black limbs, wears a small, black bow tie, and a tall, thin, black top hat that floats just above his head. The lower part of his body has a brick-like pattern of lines. When he gets mad, he turns red and his eye glows a light red. If angered enough, he will become red while his body will become more akin to that of a demon. He will have two "mouths" which have several black tongues hanging out and bright yellow, sharp teeth, and will grow four additional arms. His arms, legs, and hat will turn a bright yellow and his eye will turn black with a yellow pupil. Phil was created in a laboratory by White Diamond, and therefore is loyal to her.'"

"Uh, wow. That was pretty detailed information." Steven said. "Peridot; your scanner can get all _that_?"

"Apparently so." Peridot replied, just as intrigued.

"Anyway; where was I…?" Phil continued, having finished brushing the sand off of himself. "Oh, yeah! That's right." Phil turned around to face the gems as if he already knew they were there and floated over to them. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Phil said in his slightly echoey voice.

"Uhh, hi there…." Steven said, fairly frightened by the intimidating figure floating just a few feet from all of them.

"Who are you, some kind of midget or something? Ha-hah! Just kidding; I know who you are, Steven." Phil joked, understandably causing everyone else to freak out.

"Wh- who are you? How do you know Steven's name?!" Pearl asked, summoning her spear and getting into a battle ready stance.

"The name's Phil Cipher. And you're Pearl, aren't you?" Phil replied. "Hey, why is your friend over there named after a kind of food?" Phil asked, gesturing to Onion.

"Heh, beats me. Hey, can I eat you? You look like a Dorito." Amethyst said casually.

"…what?" Phil responded, aptly confused.

"Amethyst! This is no time to be fooling around. This thing could very well be a great danger to us all!" Pearl told Amethyst, frustrated that she could be joking around at a time like this.

 **"You've sure got that right."** Phil replied in his much deeper voice, startling everyone. "You see, I'm here on a mission from White Diamond to shatter each and every one of you. And once you gems are out of the way, this entire planet will be under my control; and when that's finished, me and the Great Diamond Authority will go on to RULE THE UNIVERSE!" He shouted.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake as Phil raised his arms up as a large obsidian dome began to form. The obsidian dome was decorated with some windows and a few lights, and was easily at least 200 feet in diameter.

"This is bad… this is _really_ bad…." Steven said, panicking.

"Oh, you _think?!_ " Pearl responded, clearly also in a panic.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have **some gems I need to shatter. _You._ "** Phil said.


	13. Cipher Battle Pt 1

**Chapter 13: Cipher Battle Pt. 1**

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have **some gems I need to shatter. _You._** " Phil suddenly turned and swiped an arm at Steven and Connie, who were standing at a slight distance, knocking them into the side of the obsidian dome.

"How do we get out of this?!" Pearl asked with growing worry.

"This dome is made out of obsidian!" Garnet said. "The only way out is to defeat Phil!"

In the meantime, Phil was trying to blast Onion with lasers from his finger, but Onion dodged every one of them while looking like he was performing amazing stunts such as a back flip. "Whoa!" Amethyst exclaimed. "Onion is totally bad-a—" Amethyst was cut off, however, as Phil decided to attack her and Bismuth, who were right next to each other, poofing Amethyst, but not Bismuth, who grabbed Amethyst's gem to protect her from being shattered.

Meanwhile, Steven and Connie had recovered from the blow they received earlier and had opted to fuse into Stevonnie, and Peridot had resorted to charging at the creature. Peridot ran at Phil, emitting a battle cry along the way, and leaped at him, trying to tackle him to the ground. However, Phil ended up "swallowing" Peridot as she vanished going into him. Phil then pulled out a stopwatch for a second, looking rather bored, before putting it away as Peridot came tumbling back out of Phil. "Aha!… Huh?" Peridot said, confused as to what had just happened.

"You just don't get it; **do you?"** Phil said. "I am the most powerful creature ever to exist! What hope could you possibly have in defeating me?"

Just then, Amethyst happened to regenerate. Not even needing to say so, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all fused together into Alexandrite. "Cipher!" Alexandrite roared from her lower mouth, causing Phil to turn around to see Alexandrite there, along with Stevonnie and Bismuth.

"Ha! So the mortals are trying to fight back. Adorable." Phil said. Alexandrite then pulled out Sardonyx's war hammer and Sugilite's flail and charged Phil. Alexandrite swung the hammer at Phil, knocking him into the side of the dome, then hit him with the flail, sending him over to where Sadie and Onion were trying to avoid the unfolding chaos.

"Yeah! Go Alexandrite!" Stevonnie cheered, then charged for Phil themself, pulling out Steven's shield and Connie's sword, merging them together into Stevonnie's spiky shield, then threw it at Phil, sending it flying at him like a frisbee, striking him in the torso. However, just as it seemed that Phil was being defeated, he abruptly put an end to the gems' efforts.

"ENOUGH!" Phil yelled. "I am going to destroy each and every one of you pests! And nothing is going to get in my way!" Phil then shot a laser from his eye, forcing Alexandrite and Stevonnie to de-fuse. "Let's get this over with."

Phil then dropped the obsidian dome, much to the confusion of everyone, until he got several hundreds of rocks from all over the beach, ranging from the size of a tennis ball to the size of a small refrigerator, with his telekinesis, and made them float in the air. "Get ready to feel a WORLD OF PAIN!" Phil yelled, flinging the rocks at them.

Amethyst had to use her spin dash to avoid the barrage of rocks, while Pearl gracefully leaped over the rocks, and Garnet had resorted to punching the rocks away with her gauntlets. Sadie and Onion were just simply running for dear life while Lapis flew up carrying Peridot with her and Bismuth shape-shifted her hands into hammers and was smashing the rocks. Meanwhile Steven had summoned his large shield and was using it to protect himself and Connie from the barrage of rocks.

However, Phil also had some rocks coming towards Steven and Connie from behind Steven's shield, and it wasn't until one bounced off the inside of the shield that they noticed. Acting quickly, Steven summoned his bubble shield around himself and Connie, shielding them both from the rocks. However, the rocks were gradually wearing down Steven's bubble shield, until eventually, the bubble collapsed completely. One of the rocks, about the size of a baseball, hit Steven in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground face first with a thud.

"Steven!" Connie yelled, dropping down to her knees to make sure he was okay, or at least still conscious.

Thankfully, he was. "Ow… my head…" Steven mumbled, sitting up and putting a hand to the back of his head where the rock had hit him.

"Steven, are you okay?!" Connie asked with worry.

"I'm… not really sure, to be honest." Steven replied, worrying Connie even more.

After what seemed like forever, the barrage of rocks had finally stopped. However, it turned out that Peridot had been poofed by one of the larger rocks, and Phil was going in to shatter her. "Oh no! Peridot!" Steven said, pointing out Peridot's dormant gemstone to Connie, as well as Phil heading towards it. "Come on! We have to save her!"

Connie quickly agreed, running towards Phil alongside Steven. "We'll take care of Phil! Get Peridot and get out of here!" Connie shouted to the others.

"What?! That's a suicide mission! You'll be shattered!" Bismuth said, while Garnet quickly grabbed Peridot's gem.

"Trust us!" Steven said back.

"Hey! Come and get us you pointy jerk!" Connie taunted towards Phil, then turned around and ran away with Steven.

This immediately caught Phil's attention, and enraged him. The others tried to run after them to ensure their safety, but Phil stopped them. "Oh no. You all stay here." Phil said, forming an obsidian cage around everyone that was still there. "I have some children I need to make into corpses." He continued, as he turned into his monstrous form, turning red with bright yellow limbs and hat, black eye with a bright yellow pupil, and growing four more arms, as well as two mouth-like openings in his body with a few black tongues and several sharp monstrous teeth.

 **"I'll see ya real soon."** Phil said in a monstrous voice, before turning around and pursuing Steven and Connie.

"W-what?! NO!" Amethyst yelled, trying in vain to stop Phil. However, there was nothing the gems, Sadie, and Onion could do but watch as Phil chased down the pair. "Aw, come on! How did that thing even know that obsidian was gem-proof?"

Steven and Connie were running for their lives away from the enraged Phil. "When I get my hands on you kids I'm going to DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!" Phil yelled, still chasing Steven and Connie.

The pair frantically ran up the hill to try and escape from Phil, only to reach the edge of the cliff.

"Oh no! We're trapped!" Connie said.

"Wait! Hold on! I could use my floating powers and get us down safely." Steven said. However, right after he said that, Phil had caught up to them, now back to his normal form, and caught the two in a tractor beam from his eye.

"Peekaboo!"


	14. Cipher Battle Pt 2

**Chapter 14: Cipher Battle Pt. 2**

"Alright, Crystal Gems; let's cut right to the chase." Phil said, having returned with Steven and Connie in his hand. "Either you all can surrender to me; admit defeat; and I shatter you… or I shatter the children. Which will it be?"

"W-what?!" Both Steven and Connie were at this point, seeing as how it was apparently either them or the gems.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Peridot exclaimed, having regenerated from earlier.

"Oh, _am_ I?" Phil replied. Then, with a simple flick at Steven, Phil cracked Steven's gem, much to the horror of everyone, before tossing him aside, still holding on to Connie. "As a matter of fact, you have five seconds to decide, or I'll shatter the girl! Five…"

"Connie!" Steven cried out, as Connie was struggling to escape the creature's grip.

"Four…"

"Steven! Do something!" Connie said fearfully.

"Three…"

In a bold rush of courage, Steven ran forward and leaped at Phil, despite his cracked gem, in an effort to save Connie.

"Tw—" Phil was abruptly cut off when Steven landed on him, then punching him in the eye. "Ow! Oh. You!" Phil shouted. "You know what? I'm just going to shatter you **right now.** "

"What?!" Connie gasped, immediately horrified upon hearing this threat. "No! Steven!" Fearful tears were already welling up in her eyes as she tried harder than ever to pull herself out of the creature's hand, desperate to rush to Steven's rescue before it was too late. After all, the thought of losing him, especially after he had so fearlessly and selflessly tried to save her, was far more than she could bear.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that anyone could do but watch in abject horror as Phil made good on his threat; firing a blast of energy out of his eye at Steven's gem, shattering it completely, as Phil dropped the two to the ground.

"Steven… I-I'm so sorry…" Connie choked out, watching as Steven's body slowly dissipated into thin air. Steven's final words before he vanished only made her tear up even more.

"Connie… I… I love you…" he said with tears in his eyes, as he faded away completely, leaving behind only his four gem shards in his place. Connie picked up the shards and bubbled them, sending them off to her room in the temple, as she fell to the ground in tears.

"Now that that pest is out of the way, let's get on to the main event." Phil said, before seeing a sight that made him do a double take.

Connie was slowly floating upwards; her body being surrounded by a steadily growing ball of light, until she was completely covered by it, obscuring her from view, before it imploded, sending off a shock-wave of energy, revealing Connie in an entirely different form.

Her hair was floating up in a bizarre fashion, her skin was now a dark shade of cyan, she had grown four extra arms, her eyes were glowing brightly and her pupils were no longer visible, and she had grown a pair of crystal wings, which, oddly enough, were shaped like a star when opened up.

"What the heck?" Phil asked in disbelief.

 **"You!"** Connie shouted, her voice having a much darker tone to it as a result of her transformation. **"You killed Steven! So now… I'm going to kill _you_."**

"W-what the heck?! What happened to Connie?!" Pearl said.

Peridot pulled out her gem scanner again, scanning the transformed Connie, and gasped. "Um, well… according to this, what just happened to Connie is an ability that has only been recorded eight times in all of gem history: 'Feral Fury'. It is an ability that all gems have, but it can't be activated manually. It only occurs when the gem is feeling extreme amounts of anger; in which they will undergo this transformation and their power increases 100 fold." She said.

"Like… how mad are we talking?" Amethyst asked.

"Anger levels so high, that people like Steven would be entirely incapable of having that much anger."

 **"You are going to pay for that!"** Connie shouted at Phil, then flew straight at him, landing a very hard blow on him.

"What's happening?!" Phil said. He then tried to punch Connie, but a strange forcefield suddenly appeared around her, shielding her from the blow. "What the…? No. No! NO! _NO!_ " Phil yelled, suddenly growing eight more arms and trying to punch Connie, but every single blow was absorbed by the forcefield around her.

 **"Enough games."** Connie said, bringing her hands together to summon an orb of pure energy. As the orb charged up, small bolts of electricity would jump out of it while it grew in size, until finally, it was as big as Phil's eye. **"You die NOW!"** Connie fired the energy at Phil, striking him directly in his eye, vaporizing him immediately, as Connie reverted back to normal, falling onto the ground unconscious. At the same time, the obsidian cages fell apart, freeing the others, as they ran over to Connie.

"Is Connie alright?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah. This is normal." Peridot assured. "The Feral Fury ability consumes so much energy that after it is over, the gem falls into a state of unconsciousness. She should be up in about three hours."

"Hey; what's this?" Amethyst asked.

The others ran over and saw a dimly glowing canister on the ground; the only remains of Phil. Peridot tried to use her scanner on it, but it came up with an error.

"I'm not sure." Peridot said. "I'll need to upgrade my scanner to be able to find out for sure."

...

"M-my Diamond! Phil has been defeated!" A Carnelian said, consulting White Diamond.

"WHAT?!" White Diamond yelled, enraged. "Ugh… well, if you want something done right, you just do it yourself." She mumbled. "Prepare the troops. We do a full-scale invasion in 10 Earth rotations."

"Yes, my Diamond." The Carnelian replied.


	15. Shattered Joy

**Chapter 15: Shattered Joy**

Connie woke up from yet another nightmare. Ever since the other day with the showdown with Phil, Connie would have constant nightmares about it. And the fact that Steven wasn't there to comfort her made it much worse, as it would always remind her that he was gone. _He had saved her, getting shattered in the process._ Connie couldn't help but to break down in tears again.

The gems had done their best to try and console Connie from the loss of Steven, but they could only do so much; having been greatly affected as well. Not to mention Pearl hadn't come out of her room in the temple since the incident.

Connie reached over to the bubble holding Steven's shards and began to hold it to her chest; the only thing left of the young half-gem.

...

Meanwhile, the gems were at the barn working on improving the gem scanner to be able to scan the mysterious glowing container that was left behind by Phil, although Pearl could barely keep herself together. Suddenly, the warp pad lit up, as Connie appeared on it. The gems turned, surprised to see Connie coming towards them.

"Connie…? Wh-what are you doing here?" Pearl asked, confused as to why she was here.

"I came here to ask you something important," Connie said, determination in her eyes, as well as grief. "I wanted to know if there was any way to un-shatter a gem; you know, bring them back?"

"Well, unfortunately, if there _is_ a way, we don't know what it is yet. Nobody does." Garnet replied. "If gems did know of a way to do so, Homeworld would've used it to revive Pink Diamond a long time ago."

"But what about Rose's fountain? Steven told me all about how it fixed Amethyst's gem, and I had witnessed its healing water for myself as it was used to fix Steven's gem." Connie said, tearing up slightly at the mention of Steven.

"Well, that only works on cracked gems. It won't mend a shattered gem, even if you put the pieces together and do it. We've already tried it." Garnet replied. "Believe me; we all want Steven back. But there's just nothing that we can do about it. He's gone." She continued, a hint of grief in her usually level-toned voice. "But for now, we need to focus on figuring out what this odd container is."

"Oh… okay, then…" Connie said, her voice filled with disappointment. "I'll… just be heading back then."

...

 _Connie had just finished hearing Steven's story on Amethyst's cracked gem and how the gems had traveled to Rose's healing fountain to fix it. After hearing what Steven said Pearl had told him, she was left in disbelief. "She didn't_ really _say that!" Connie said, knowing that Pearl would never say such a thing._

 _"No, but that's what it felt like…" he confessed._

 _"Is that why you've been so down?" Connie asked, to which she just got a shrug in response. "Oh…."_

 _"You can have your juice back." Connie offered in an attempt to cheer him up._

 _"Nah, that's okay." Steven replied, starting to tear up again. "Everyone expects me to be like my mom…. What if I never get those powers?"_

 _"Then you'll be like me." Connie replied. "That's not so bad."_

 _"But if I don't have powers, then I can't hang out with Amethyst. Or Garnet. Or Pearl! And I-I can't go on missions!" Steven says, grabbing onto his pants at his knee, then stops as Connie puts her hand on top of his._

 _"You don't need any powers to be here with me." Connie tells him. She then takes a sip of the juice before starting to lean in closer to Steven, a large blush spreading on her face as she was about to kiss him, but stops short with a sudden headache. "Ow. Ugh." She says, putting a hand to her forehead as she leaned back to how she was before._

 _"What's wrong?" Steven asks, slightly worried._

 _"I think - there's just - something wrong with my glasses." Connie says, taking her glasses off. "My… my eyes. I-I can see!" Connie says, unable to believe it._

 _"What?!" Steven asks, equally bewildered._

 _"_ I can see without my glasses! _" Connie replies, confirming it._

 _"Did I… heal your eyes? But… how?" Steven says, still confused. He then glances down at the straw of the juice box Connie is holding, which is sparkling. Connie also looks at it, reflexively dropping it in shock. "The juice box!" Steven says, realization striking him. "I don't have healing tears! I have healing_ spit _!"_

 _"What am I going to tell my parents? What am I going to tell my optometrist?!" Connie says._

 _"I don't even know! Oh, thank you Connie!" Steven tells her, getting up from his sitting position and giving Connie a brief hug. "Lion, let's go tell the gems. They're never gonna believe this!"_

 _Connie then looks down at her glasses she is holding, and after a brief moment of consideration, pops the lenses out and puts her glasses back on._

...

"Connie!" Connie wakes up from her position on the couch to see Peridot looking down right into her face with the biggest grin.

"Connie! You're never gonna believe this! We finished upgrading the gem scanner and scanned the container. It's a pure substance of Oganesson, previously known to humans as Ununoctium, an element with a normal half-life of 0.0007 seconds, but somehow, the container of the element is perfectly stable. Anyway, the reason it's so great is because according to the scanner, it can un-shatter a gem and bring them back! _We can use this to revive Steven!_ "


	16. Bringing Steven Back

**Chapter 16: Bringing Steven Back**

After hearing that Steven could potentially be brought back, Connie felt tears in her eyes as her lips curled into a small smile. _He wasn't gone forever._ "How do we bring him back?" Connie heard herself asking, as she quickly ran and grabbed the bubble holding Steven's gem shards, hugging them tightly to her chest as she ran back over to the couch where Peridot was.

"Well, according to my scanner, we need about 24 ounces of Oganesson, as well as a small handful of the pink material inside of an injector, some healing water from Rose's fountain, and, of course, the gem shards." Peridot replied, reading off of the scanner. "We only have about 26 ounces of Oganesson though, so we won't be able to do it a second time."

...

 _"Hi, my name is Steven!" Connie looks over to see a panicked Steven running towards her, then trips and falls on top of her. His gem then begins to glow, and the two are suddenly surrounded by a pink colored bubble. The large rock that was falling from the tremor being caused by an unseen gem monster strikes the top of the bubble, immediately shattering upon impact. "Whoa! How did I do that?" Steven wonders aloud, then turns to look back at Connie. "Hi. My name is Steven."_

 _"Connie." She replies back, readjusting her glasses. The remains of the rock that was about the size of a refrigerator lie around the bubble. The two had only just met, and Steven had already managed to save Connie's life before they even knew each other's names._

...

The warp pad at the Prime Kindergarten lit up as Connie and the gems all arrived there. "Okay, now we need some of the insides of an injector for our first ingredient." Peridot stated. Amethyst used her whip to slice open the nearest injector, causing some pinkish substance to spill out. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and collected a handful of it, then encompassing a bubble around it to hold it.

"Alright; what's next?" Connie asked.

"Now, we need some of the healing water; about 16 fluid ounces of it." Peridot replied.

...

 _"_ _So… Lapis and Jasper are somewhere underwater._ _"_ _Connie says, to make sure she heard right._

 _"_ _Yeah; and Peridot escaped while the ship was coming down. She could be anywhere._ _"_ _Steven clarified._

 _"That_ is _a lot to take in_ _…_ _" Connie says, understanding now why Steven was trying to keep his most recent harrowing adventure to himself. He had been knocked unconscious, kidnapped, and almost was taken into space never to return._

 _"Are you okay?_ _"_ _Steven_ _asks, worried that he told her too much._

 _"_ _Are_ you _okay?_ _"_ _Connie asks back. Even after all he has been through, Steven was still genuinely worried about her._ _"_ _You_ _'re the one that's been through everything. The least I could do is just listen._ _"_

 _"_ _I can't ask you to do that._ _"_

 _"_ _I_ want _to, Steven._ _"_ _Connie reassures him. "I want to be a part of your universe._ _"_

...

The gems had now arrived at Rose's healing fountain, Connie holding a plastic water bottle to hold the healing water in. "Now, we need about 16 fluid ounces of this water." Peridot says. "Then, that should be everything."

"I'm on it." Lapis replies. Lapis then uses her water powers to levitate a small bubble of the water and makes it hover to Connie, where she drops the water in as Connie screws the lid on.

"Alright. That should be everything. Now let's head back and bring Steven back." Connie says.

...

 _"We're falling! Steven, let's fuse! We can hover. We'll be okay!_ _… Steven?" Connie says. Stevonnie was training in the ancient sky arena, but after seeing guilt-induced hallucinations from Steven's half of the fusion, they fell off and split up into Steven and Connie._

 _"I didn't want to hurt anyone!" Steven says, tears flowing, as Connie makes her way through free-fall to grab hold of Steven. "I'm sorry! None of them would let me help them. I had no choice!"_

 _"It's okay!" Connie tells him._

 _"No, it's not!"_

 _"But it's okay to think about it!" Connie reassures him._

 _"It feels so bad." Steven says back._

 _"That's okay too! There was nothing else you could've done." Connie tells him._

 _"I don't want to feel this way." Steven says, still crying._

 _"_ _You have to. You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on." Connie reassures again. "That's how it was for me."_

 _"Okay."_

 _Steven and Connie promptly fuse again into Stevonnie. Stevonnie then uses their floating powers to land safely on the ground. "Ah. I'm here."_

...

"Okay. Now… we just need to follow these instructions." Peridot said. Connie was holding Steven's shards and the healing water, and Garnet was holding the injector insides and the Oganesson. "First, get the healing water and the Oganesson and pour them into a bowl." She read, the others doing so. "Now, mix the injector insides in the bowl." Garnet popped the bubble holding the inside and Pearl summoned her spear and mixed it up. "Finally, piece together the shards and place them into the bowl." Connie did so and the bowl started to glow.

"I-it's working!" Connie said.

The others all watched in amazement as the shards absorbed everything there as it slowly fixed itself. Suddenly, the gem began to glow very brightly as it rose into the air and Steven appeared to be regenerating, albeit slightly slower. Finally, his form materialized as he fell to the ground as everyone watched with wonder.

"STEVEN! YOU'RE BACK!" Connie yelled, embracing him in a tight hug. However, what nobody was anticipating was what he said right afterwards.

"Who's… Steven?"


	17. Amnesia

**Chapter 17: Amnesia**

"Wh-what do you _mean_ 'Who's Steven'?" Connie replied.

"Hey, c'mon, dude. This isn't funny." Amethyst tried.

"Um, who are you? And why are you purple?" Steven replied.

"Y-you… you don't remember? You really don't remember anything, Steven?" Connie asked, tearing up.

"Who is this… 'Steven' you keep talking about, anyway?" He asked.

"Y-you! You're Steven!" Connie told him, grabbing his shoulders for emphasis. "Steven Quartz Universe! That's you. The boy I love…" Connie trailed off.

"Are you really sure you don't remember _anything_?" Sadie asked. "Anything at _all_?"

"Look, I'm sorry, I really don't remember." Steven said back. "Who I am, who all you guys are, why some of you have jewels embedded in your skin and have unusual skin colors…"

"Seriously, dude, if this is a joke, it's not funny. We're seriously worried about you here." Amethyst tried again, only to no avail.

"No, I-I really can't remember anything."

"Peridot. Use your scanner on him." Connie said. "Maybe it'll tell us how to bring his memory back."

"It's worth a shot." Peridot replied, taking out her scanner and using it on him. "Well… no, unfortunately, it doesn't say anything about his lost memory or how to retrieve it."

"Okay, w-well… maybe we just need to show him some of his things. Maybe that will jog his memory?" Connie said. "We _have_ to try!"

...

 _"Thank you so much for letting me watch 'Under the Knife' here, Steven." Connie said. The pair were gathered up and sitting in front of Steven's TV watching the show.  
_

 _"How come you can't watch the show at home?" Steven asked curiously._

 _"My mom says this doesn't represent a real emergency room." Connie told him. "She just doesn't understand that it's satire."_

 _Connie's phone then begins to ring, drawing the attention of Steven and Connie. "Is that your phone?" Steven asks Connie._

 _"It's probably my mom." Connie replies, picking up her phone and looking at the caller id and seeing that it was, indeed, her mom, then answers the phone. "Hi, mother. It's Connie." She says into the phone. "…Yes, ma'am. … We're—we're just hanging out. … Oh_ _— Steven's parents. They're, uh_ _— they're in the other room. … You would like to talk to Steven's mom. … Oh, okay. Hold on a moment."  
_

 _"That's gonna be pretty hard since my mom gave up her physical form to make me." Steven tells Connie after she had put her hand over the speaker so her mom wouldn't hear._

 _"I can't tell her that!" Connie says, worried that if her mom found out that Steven was anything but ordinary, she wouldn't be allowed to hang out with him anymore. The pair run down the stairs to find Garnet sitting on the couch._

 _"Garnet, quick. You have to pretend to be my mom to Connie's mom." Steven says. Garnet takes the phone, not even questioning why since her future vision already told her the reason._

 _"Hello. This… is Mom Universe." Garnet says into the phone. "Yes. The children are playing swords. Sorry— playing_ with _swords. They're bleeding. Oh no, they are dead. Don't call again." She says, having kept a calm tone the entire time, then hanging up the phone and handing it back to a shocked Steven and Connie. "Sorry, I panicked."  
_

...

"Um, how about Lion?" Connie tried, leading Steven over to where Lion was quietly napping. Unfortunately, this seemed to fail, since Steven started to slowly back away, assuming he was a threat, even though he was asleep. "Come on, Steven, you _love_ Lion! You really don't remember him?"

"No, not really." Steven replied.

"How about the gems?" Connie said. "What about them? Don't you remember Amethyst? Or Garnet? Or Pearl? Don't you remember how you freed Lapis from the mirror? Or how about Peridot? Or meeting Ruby and Sapphire? Do you remember any of that?"

"Look, you all seem really nice, but I really don't remember anything." Steven said.

"What about _me_? Don't you remember me, Steven?" Connie tried. She figured that if this didn't work, nothing would. They had already tried everything else, after all. "Don't you remember that time you saved me from that falling rock when we first met? Or when we first fused? That time we spent together at your 14th birthday? Or anything?"

"…Connie?"

"Steven?!" Connie said.

'I… I remember! I remember everything!" Steven said.

"Oh, thank goodness you're back to normal!" Connie exclaimed.

"Sorry I made you go to all that trouble, Connie." Steven told her.

"I don't care about all that! I'm just happy you're alright!" Connie replied.


	18. The Invasion Begins

**Chapter 18: The Invasion Begins**

"Alright, soldiers!" White Diamond addressed all of the gem soldiers on her ship. "The day has come! It's time to invade the earth!"

White Diamond's ship took off from its position on the moon and headed off towards earth, or, more specifically, towards the Crystal Gems. "We will destroy those gem rebels. They were the ones responsible for the downfall of Pink Diamond!"

...

Meanwhile, everyone at the temple were gathered around Steven's TV, watching "Lonely Blade IV". Until suddenly, the entire ground began to shake.

"What's going on?!" Connie asked.

"I think it's an earthquake!" Pearl yelled.

"It's White Diamond!" Garnet said. "She's doing a full-scale invasion!"

"What?!" Everyone except Onion said.

"We have to stop her! This is the ultimate battle!" Garnet said. She led everyone else outside, to see White Diamond's ship approaching the beach with alarming speed. It wouldn't be long before it landed.

Suddenly, Garnet started running in the opposite direction. "Garnet! Where are you going?!" Steven asked; though she didn't answer. However, before anyone could do anything, White Diamond's ship fired a beam of energy at the gems. Luckily, it didn't hit anyone, but the explosion caused sent Sadie, Connie, and Onion sailing through the air. After a few seconds, they all began to fall towards the ground nearly a quarter mile from where the explosion happened. They braced for impact, but Garnet leaped up and caught them.

"Whew. Thanks, Garnet." Connie said, understanding now why Garnet had suddenly ran off. She was running off to catch them from the explosion her future vision had revealed to her.

"Let's go back to the beach. We need to stop White Diamond at all costs!" Garnet swiftly carried the others back to the beach where the others were dodging beams of energy left and right. Until suddenly, the ship stopped firing at them, much to their confusion.

"Okay, what's going on?" Bismuth said. "They're up to something, but I'm not quite sure what."

The others also were suspicious of the sudden cease-firing. However, none of them were aware that inside the ship, White Diamond was preparing to use her experimental weapon.

"Carnelian!" White Diamond called from inside the ship, to which the Carnelian promptly ran up.

"Yes, my Diamond?"

"Prepare to fire the… experimental weapon." White Diamond ordered.

"Yes, my Diamond." The Carnelian replied.

The others on the beach watched in confusion as a single Carnelian appeared on top of one of the fingers of White Diamond's ship. Suddenly, the Carnelian threw down a strange, colored orb at the gems, landing directly in front of Steven. At first, everyone was startled, but when the Carnelian went back into the ship and the orb hadn't done anything, they just got confused.

"What is that thing?" Steven asked, walking up to it and picking it up.

"Steven! No!" Pearl yelled.

"Wha—?" Steven began to say, before the orb started glowing suddenly. Steven dropped it and tried to get away, but the orb activated, enlarging to the size of the temple, Steven disappearing inside. The orb rose up into the air, going to the edge of the cliff by the lighthouse, before a large star emblem appeared on it and chains locked around it, preventing anyone else from getting in.

"Steven!" Everyone yelled; except for Onion, who just remained silent watching in disbelief and shock.

Finally, White Diamond's ship had landed on the beach. White Diamond then appeared on top of the ship and addressed the remaining gems. "Crystal gems! Stand down and surrender, or face my wrath!" White Diamond challenged.

"Never!" Bismuth shouted back.

"You let Steven go, you monster!" Connie yelled.

"Fine. Have it your way…" White Diamond replied.

...

"Hello…? Is anybody there?" Steven called out. He had just woken up in a strange room. After a minute, he realized he was inside of the strange bubble he had been enveloped in. "Hello?" Steven stopped short upon hearing Connie's voice. "Connie? Is that you?"

Connie walked up to Steven. "Hello, Steven." She said.

"Connie! What's going on? What _is_ this place?" Steven asked. However, instead of answering him, Connie simply walked up to him without saying anything. "Connie…? What're you— OW!" Connie had suddenly punched him in the stomach so hard Steven almost had another look at his most recent meal. "C-Connie! W-what are you _doing_?!" Steven asked, fearful.

"Oh, Steven." She began in a condescending tone. "Don't you get it? You wi-i-i-ill ne-e-e-ever amount to a-a-a-anyth-th-th-thing." She said, voice glitching out like a broken computer program. "Yo-o-o-o-ou're just a-a waste of spa-a-a-ace!" The Connie continued, landing another brutal blow to the confused and distressed half-gem.

"No… no…"

...

Meanwhile, outside the bubble, the real Connie was trying to find a way in to Steven's bubble while the gems were trying to fight off White Diamond's army.

"Ugh! How do I get in this thing?" Connie said, frustrated. No matter what she tried, she couldn't break the bonds around the bubble. Suddenly, though, a Carnelian had knocked Connie down to the ground, nearly off the edge of the cliff.

"Give up! You'll never get in there!" The Carnelian taunted. "Those chains are unbreakable! Now prepare to be shattered."

However, Connie pulled out her sword and stabbed the Carnelian, making her poof, as a key fell to the ground. "That key…" Connie contemplated. "That key looks like it goes to the lock on those chains! Now I just need to go get the gems and—"

Connie stopped short, however, upon noticing that White Diamond's army had captured the others. "Oh no…" Connie decided she would have to go and rescue Steven herself.

"Okay, Connie. Steven is just inside this bubble." Connie told herself. "I just need to go in, get Steven, save the gems, and save the world. Piece of cake. But Steven's trapped inside of this prison bubble designed by White Diamond. But whatever happens, I'm doing this for Steven. For Steven." Connie then used the key and unlocked the chains surrounding the bubble, which quickly fell to the beach below. Connie then braced herself for whatever horrors awaited her inside, and walked in, her entire vision turning white.


	19. Escape to Reality

**Chapter 19: Escape to Reality**

"What is this place?" Connie wondered aloud as she looked around. All she could see was an endless expanse of white. "I have to find Steven, but White Diamond's got him trapped inside this strange bubble." Connie's musing was put to an abrupt halt when the white all around her started cracking, patches of very dark shades of blue, red, and black visible through the cracks, until suddenly, she fell through, all of the white vanishing, leaving her falling through an apocalyptic-looking landscape, until she landed roughly on the ground below.

Connie groaned in pain as she struggled to get up off the ground. When she finally managed to steady herself, she looked around, seeing a nightmarish landscape. The sky was blood red, the ground was a shade of blue so dark that it was difficult to tell where the ground changed levels, dead trees dotted the landscape, black clouds scattered across the sky, and there was a tall, black tower in the middle of it all that looked like it was from an old castle, but rugged, decaying, and looked rather menacing. Seeing as how the tower was the only structure around, it was unquestionable that that was where Steven was at.

...

"N-no! P-please, stop!" Steven said. The fake Connie kept torturing the young gem, and he couldn't even defend himself from it, since the bubble was blocking all gem magic. The torture felt like it was going on forever, until the fake Connie transformed into the gems. Confused, Steven opened his eyes to see the gems standing there. "Pearl! Garnet! Amethyst! What's going on? Why was Connie attacking me?!" The confused young gem asked.

"Steven." Pearl began. "You sho-o-o-ould know by no-o-ow that we don't want a-a-a-anyth-th-th-thing to do-o-o-o with yo-o-ou. You will ne-e-e-e-e-eve-e-r be as gre-e-e-eat as Rose wa-a-as."

"G-guys?" Steven asked, teary-eyed. "Why are you acting like this?" Steven became even more upset and fearful when he saw them moving in, drawing out their weapons.

...

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

"Steven?!" Connie called. Steven's scream echoed throughout the entire landscape, brimming with a level of raw pain and fear that Connie had never heard before. "Don't worry, Steven! I'm coming for you!"

Connie began sprinting towards the tower, before suddenly halting in her tracks. What she saw was like something straight out of a horror game and a nightmare combined. It was what appeared to be a very torn-up, robotic bear with a black bow tie and top hat, easily at least the size of Garnet, if not bigger. It had patches of "fur" missing from its hips, legs, arms, and head, revealing its metallic skeleton frame. Its eyes were glowing a bright red, it had two sets of razor-sharp teeth, which were tinted red at the roots of them, and it had razor-sharp claws as well. It also had what looked like three miniature versions of itself attached to it, which were much smaller, but still looked quite terrifying.

"Uhh…" Connie began to cower away in fear, hoping it would leave her alone, remembering a terrifying nightmare she had about this exact same creature, and a few others like it, a few months prior. Connie was forced to make a break for it when the creature lunged at her, teeth and claws bared and emitting a terrifying, almost deafening sound akin to that of a roar and a scream. Connie tried to pull out her sword, but found that the bubble was blocking all of the gem magic. "Oh, come on. Seriously?" She said. "Why can't I use my gem?!"

Connie continued running as fast as her legs could carry her. When she took a brief look over her shoulder, she saw that the robot-creature was still after her, and was catching up fast. She almost ended up becoming its victim when she tripped over what was apparently a hill, but forced herself to get up as fast as she could, running straight for the tower. Just as the robotic bear-like monster reached her, Connie had managed to get inside of the tower and slammed the door shut, locking it. No more than a split second later, the creature started pounding on the door, making Connie fear that it was going to break it down.

"Okay, okay, this must be some kind of… nightmare-creating bubble." Connie told herself. "Whatever I'm seeing is fake."

"Connie?"

"Huh?" Connie turned around and saw Steven standing next to her, looking at her with a blank expression. "Steven?"

"Hello Connie…" he said, suddenly turning into a more monstrous form, similar to that of a corrupted gem.

"No… YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Connie shouted at it, swinging a fist at it, making it disappear in a puff of smoke.

"I've gotta find the _real_ Steven." Connie said, finding the stairs. As Connie climbed up the stairs, another scream from Steven echoed throughout the area. "He sounds like he's doing _way_ worse than I was. I have to find him fast." Connie concluded, sprinting up the winding staircase.

After what seemed like hours, Connie had come to a single door at the very top of the stairs. She opened the door to find Steven cowering in a corner, curled up on himself. "Steven! There you are!" Connie said. She began running towards him, but stopped short upon seeing that her speedy approach only seemed to frighten him even more. "Steven…?"

"P-please… don't hurt me…" Steven said shakily.

"Don't worry, Steven. Whatever you were seeing wasn't real." Connie said, approaching him more slowly this time. "I promise. I'm not going to hurt you. It's me. The _real_ Connie."

Connie's assurance seemed to calm him down, because Steven was no longer shaking. "Come on. We have to get out of here." Connie told him. "Just before I came in here, I saw the gems get captured. We need to go rescue them and defeat White Diamond."

"Okay." Steven replied.

The two ran down the stairs to the door; Connie expecting the monstrous robot to still be trying to get in, but when Connie opened the door, it was nowhere to be seen. "Did it disappear?" Connie asked herself.

"Did what disappear?" Steven asked her.

"Uh, nevermind. Let's just get out of here."

Steven and Connie continued running towards the edge of the bubble, but had to stop again upon seeing another monster. "Seriously?" Connie asked, feeling a mix of fear and annoyance.

"That thing looks like if a three-headed ghost had a skeleton that was black." Steven commented, seeing that the beast did, in fact, look just like that. The creature was floating in midair, and let out a roar-like sound, then shooting one of its skulls at them, which exploded upon contact with the ground in front of them, growing back its skull.

"Run!" Steven yelled; something that Connie easily agreed with. They turned around and ran away from the ghastly creature, trying to get to the other edge of the bubble of pure nightmares. Thankfully, this creature was slower than they were, so they were able to outrun it. Finally, they got to the edge, and tried to run out of it, only to run right into the edge.

"What?! H-how do we get out?!" Connie asked frantically. Their attention was brought back to the creature that had been chasing them when an explosion sounded out just behind them, seeing as how it had now caught up to them. "Uh oh…"

"Um, would you mind helping us get out of here?" Steven tried asking it, only for it to shoot another explosive skull at them.

"Wait! Maybe it can!" Connie thought. "We can lure it and make it shoot at the side of the bubble, popping it!"

"Connie, that's brilliant!" Steven exclaimed. "Hey! You… you monster! Come and get us!"

The monster roared in response, shooting two more skulls at Steven and Connie, who ran in opposite directions, trying to get the beast to destroy the bubble. After a while, however, one of the skulls hit Steven directly, knocking him to the ground in pain.

"Steven!" Connie called, seeing that the monster had dealt a direct strike to the young gem. The monster shot another skull at Connie, who ducked out of the way just in time, directly hitting the edge of the bubble, exploding, and destroying the bubble.

"Steven, are you okay?" Connie asked, once the debris had cleared up, running over to Steven.

"Yeah, I think so… but I'm probably scarred for life now from that horrifying experience." Steven said.

"Yeah… I think I am, too." Connie replied back. "Now, come on. Let's go save the gems."


	20. Adventure's End

**Chapter 20: Adventure's End**

As Steven and Connie finish dusting themselves off from the debris of White Diamond's trap, Connie finishes explaining everything that happened since Steven was enveloped by the bubble of pure nightmares.

"…and before I came into the bubble to rescue you, I looked over and saw that White Diamond's army had captured the gems." Connie finished.

"So… basically, it's just us right now?" Steven asked, just to make sure he understood everything.

"Yeah." Connie replied. "Now, come on. Let's go save the gems." And with that, Steven and Connie set off down the hill to go and rescue the gems, fight White Diamond, and defeat her.

...

Meanwhile, White Diamond was holding the gems hostage on her ship, with a bunch of Amethysts guarding the cells.

"This is _perfect_." White Diamond gloated. "I have all of the Crystal Gems here, except for the hybrids. Now, I just have to wait for them to come and try to rescue them, and once they're captured, I will have them all shattered and the planet will be made into another gem colony."

"You'll never get away with this!" Bismuth shouted up at White Diamond. "Steven and Connie are going to stop you!"

"Yeah!" Pearl added. "They may not be full-on gems like the rest of us, but they're even stronger than we are!"

"And not to mention, they are fueled with the ultimate power: their determination to protect the ones they care about, their desire to save the earth, and their unstoppable love for each other!" Ruby added, who had been separated from Sapphire in the process of getting captured.

"I suggest you pipe down…" White Diamond told them, "…unless you'd like to be shattered right _now_."

...

Steven and Connie had now arrived at White Diamond's ship, which was stationed hovering over the ocean with the "hand" resting on the shoreline.

"This is it." Connie said. "The gems are inside of here, but so is White Diamond. We just find the gems, break them out, and defeat White Diamond."

"W-what if we get caught before we can save the gems?" Steven asked.

"Why don't we just fuse into Stevonnie so we'll have a smaller chance of being caught?" Connie suggested. "That way, even if we _do_ get caught, we can just fight our way out."

"Sounds good to me." Steven replied. Steven and Connie then joined hands, fusing into Stevonnie, who then headed off towards the ship.

Stevonnie proceeded to approach the ship, but were surprised to see one of the fingers open up like a door. "Looks like they're expecting us." They said. Stevonnie pulled out their spiked shield, prepared for battle just in case, and charged inside.

Stevonnie was immediately met by a bunch of gems, consisting of Amethysts, Rubies, a few Carnelians, and even a Bismuth, all of them clearly intent on capturing them. Stevonnie could already tell it was too many to fight as though it were an ordinary battle, so they brought up their spiked bubble and tried to plow through, but there were too many for even that, since after a few of them got poofed, a bunch of other gems began pushing against the bubble until it came to a complete standstill.

Noticing this, Stevonnie got two swords ready, and made the spiked bubble expand before exploding, poofing a couple of the gems right next to it, and immediately began slicing their swords through several gems while spinning like a tornado. When Stevonnie stopped spinning, they noticed that there was only a single Ruby left, which they easily poofed. "That was a surprisingly effective method." Stevonnie said. Stevonnie then bubbled all of the gems, and sent them off to the temple, then continued to look for the gems. Unbeknownst to them, however, was that White Diamond had been watching the whole time on her monitor.

"The two hybrids fused together are much stronger than I thought." White Diamond mused. "I wonder what the chances are that I could get them to side with me…?"

Meanwhile, Stevonnie had happened across the area where the jail cells were.

"Perfect." Stevonnie muttered. They shortly after found the gems in each of their own cells.

"Stevonnie!" The gems called upon seeing them.

"Hey, guys!" Stevonnie said back. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of here in no time."

Stevonnie then unfused back into Steven and Connie, who went around the cells blocking parts of the anti-gem force-field so the gems could escape. Being only half-gem, Steven and Connie felt only mild discomfort from the force-field. After a few minutes, all of the gems had escaped.

"Thanks for the help." Lapis told them.

"Not a problem." Connie replied back. "Believe me, it was a _lot_ tougher breaking Steven out of the bubble he was trapped in. It pretty much made your worst nightmares come to life."

"Sounds like it was quite the task." Garnet said, having just fused again.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" White Diamond said from behind them.

"Oh, boy." Amethyst muttered.

White Diamond approached the gems, or more specifically, Steven and Connie. "I have to say, you two hybrids are _much_ stronger than I originally anticipated."

"What do you want, White Diamond?" Connie asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You know, I could really use a pair like you two." White Diamond told them. "How would you like to become the next two Diamonds?" White Diamond offered, surprising everyone. "You could be Green Diamond…" White Diamond said, gesturing towards Connie, "and you could be the next Pink Diamond." She finished, gesturing towards Steven.

"Wait… what?" Steven asked, confused and surprised by this sudden turn of events.

"I said, how would you two like to be the next two Diamonds?" White Diamond offered again.

"You know, as nice of an offer as that sounds, you forgot one thing." Connie said.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"WE'LL BE SHATTERED BEFORE WE JOIN YOU!" Connie shouted at White Diamond.

"Oh, I think that can be arranged…." White Diamond replied coldly.

White Diamond then summoned her own gem weapon: a giant hammer.

White Diamond swung her hammer down at Steven and Connie, striking them directly, creating a crater and causing the other gems to collectively gasp in shock. But when White Diamond lifted up her hammer, it had turned out that Steven had protected himself and Connie from being smashed with his bubble, relieving the worry that the others had for them. At least, until White Diamond struck the bubble with her hammer as if she was playing golf, sending them soaring through the roof of the ship and out of sight. "Steven! Connie!" The gems called out, watching the bubble soar high in the air with the two inside of it yelling in fear the whole time.

The bubble kept soaring through the air until it splashed into the ocean, floating down to the ocean floor with Steven and Connie inside. When the bubble finally landed, it didn't take long for Steven and Connie to stand back up inside the bubble. "This reminds me of the first time we met." Connie noted.

"Oh, yeah…" Steven agreed. "But we should probably go back to where we were. The gems might be worried about us."

"And they could also use some help in dealing with White Diamond as well." Connie figured.

"Alright. Ready for me to pop the bubble?" Steven asked.

"On the count of three." Connie replied. "One…"

"Two…" Steven said, before the pair drew in a breath, ready to swim up as soon as the bubble popped.

The number three was never said as the bubble popped and Steven and Connie swam up, drawing in a breath upon breaking the surface of the water.

" _There_ they are!" Pearl called out. "We were looking all over for you! After White Diamond knocked you sky-high, we fled to make sure you were all right."

"Don't worry; we're fine." Connie told them. "Steven's bubble kept us from drowning."

"Oh, thank goodness." Pearl said as Steven and Connie swam to shore. "I think we may need to regroup back at the temple and prepare ourselves some more."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Lapis lamented.

And the group did just that. Although, as it turned out, once they got there, they found Sadie and Onion trying to come up with a battle plan. "Hey! There you guys are!" Steven called out. Sadie and Onion turned and saw all of the gems, as well as Steven and Connie.

"Oh, hey guys. We were just trying to figure out a way that we could help out. Although, it's kind of hard to brainstorm together when Onion literally never talks." Sadie replied. "Sorry it's taking so long. Did you guys win?"

"No, actually." Garnet answered. "And besides, we were only out there for about 2 hours."

"We had to flee to make sure that Steven and Connie were alright after White Diamond knocked them through the roof of the ship." Amethyst clarified. "So we came back here to come up with a plan."

"I see." Sadie replied. "Yeah, I'm not really having much luck on my end, so a little help would certainly be nice."

"Well, first, we're going to need to prepare." Bismuth said.

...

"Hey, Pearl! I think I found something we could use!" Amethyst called out, coming out of the temple holding a small, gray box labeled "HANDLE WITH CARE" as the others looked out of confusion and curiosity.

"What's inside?" Pearl asked curiously.

"Grenades." Amethyst replied with a large grin on her face. Upon hearing Amethyst's answer, all the others in the room immediately became frightened, knowing how dangerous a box of explosives could potentially be. Amethyst then just began laughing. "Don't worry, guys! They're completely harmless! Until you pull the pin out…"

"A-Amethyst… where did you get these?!" Pearl asked in exasperation.

"I raided a military base about 50 years ago for in case something like this ever happened." Amethyst replied.

"Amethyst, you can't just run in to a human military base and— wait… you _planned_ for this?" Pearl asked surprised. After all, Amethyst usually never planned ahead; opting instead to do whatever seemed like the best course of action at the time.

"Yeah. Why?" Amethyst asked.

"Um, never mind." Pearl said "Well, regardless, these grenades could just be quite useful for this kind of situation."

"Amethyst, I didn't know you had a box of _grenades_ in your room!" Steven exclaimed.

"Yeah, Amethyst! That's crazy!" Connie said. "Those would've been very useful in stopping Phil Cipher before he shattered Steven…."

"Well, you managed to fix that though, didn't you?" Steven said.

"Yeah, but it felt like a hundred knives had stabbed me when I saw you get shattered." Connie said. "I still keep thinking about how I could've prevented that instead of just watching it happen. I was so terrified when I saw that."

"It's okay, Connie. The important part is that you managed to bring me back." Steven told her. "I could never thank you enough for that."

"Thanks, Steven." Connie replied.

"Well, anyway, we should probably get back to planning out our battle strategy." Pearl said.

...

"Ugh! I still can't believe those pesky Crystal Gems got away so easily!" White Diamond said. "I had them right in my grasp!"

"Don't worry, my Diamond." One of White Diamond's Peridots said. "They will surely come back; I'm certain of it."

"Good. Because I'm brewing up a little surprise for them." White Diamond replied as she looked over, checking the progress of her potions that she was brewing. "Perfect. They're almost finished…."

...

"Alright, do we have everything?" Pearl asked.

"Looks like it to me." Garnet replied.

"Great. Now, we must go back and fight for real." Pearl said.

"Yeah! I can't wait to knock some sense into White Diamond!" Bismuth said. "Nobody messes with the earth and gets away with it!"

"I think that you two should stay here." Garnet said to Sadie and Onion. "If you come along, my future vision shows that you will get injured very badly, if not killed, no matter what any of us do. Don't worry, though, my future vision shows a good possibility of us winning, even without your help."

Sadie and Onion obliged, not wanting to get so badly hurt when it wasn't even necessary.

Steven, Connie, and the gems all head off towards White Diamond's ship, finding it to still be open. The group walked in to the ship, guards up in case there were any guards there. However, there were no guards to be seen.

"This is strange." Pearl noted.

"Yeah. It's like the entire ship was abandoned." Connie said. However, this turned out to be false, as they all encountered two Amethyst guards at the entrance to the throne room. However, instead of attacking them, the Amethysts simply told them that White Diamond was waiting for them inside, and let them through.

"Well, hello there." White Diamond said. "I've been waiting for you to arrive."

"Get to the point, White Diamond." Connie said.

"I believe that it's time that we finish this once and for all." White Diamond said, before the exits were all closed off. "No more running. And no holding back."

Steven and Connie then fused into Stevonnie, who pulled out their shield and sword, Bismuth shapeshifted her hands into hammers, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet summoned their weapons, Lapis summoned her water wings, and Peridot began using her metal powers to levitate some metal rods that she brought, and White Diamond summoned her giant hammer.

"This all ends now."

White Diamond immediately swung her hammer down towards the gems, right as they just barely get out of the way in time. White Diamond swings again, this time Bismuth blocking the hit with her hammer hands mere milliseconds before she would've been crushed by it. The two are in a standstill for several seconds before Amethyst wraps her whip around White Diamond's ankle. Amethyst tries to yank it to make White Diamond fall, but she instead is flung into the air when White Diamond kicks her foot in the air with Amethyst still holding on to the whip.

Peridot then tries to use the opportunity to attack from behind, but as the metal rods are about to reach her, White Diamond turns and grabs the rods.

"Pathetic." White Diamond mutters, throwing them down back at Peridot, one of them hitting her in the head, just barely missing her gem, but making her dizzy from the impact.

Pearl and Stevonnie then charge at White Diamond on opposite sides of each other, Stevonnie landing a direct hit, but it was made apparent that that dealt very little damage. Pearl was kicked away by White Diamond before she could even get there.

Meanwhile, Bismuth was standing on Lapis' back as she flew up to White Diamond's head to try a sneak attack. White Diamond, however, turned at the last second and hit them both with her hammer, sending Bismuth flying into the wall, and poofing Lapis. Stevonnie quickly ran over to Lapis' gem and picked it up before White Diamond could shatter her.

It was then that White Diamond pulled out a potion, throwing it down at the gems, the liquid splashing all over the place. Pearl, Garnet, Stevonnie, Amethyst, and Bismuth were all affected by the potion, which caused their vision to go down to the point where they could only see up to 10 feet, then their vision went completely black.

"How do you like my potion of blindness?" White Diamond sneered.

"I can't see anything!" Stevonnie panicked.

"So my potion was a success." White Diamond said. "Well, no worries. There's more where that came from; each potion having a different effect. Don't panic though, they only last a few minutes."

Pearl was swinging her spear wildly, trying blindly to find out where White Diamond was, to no avail. Meanwhile, Garnet had resorted to using her future vision to guide her. But what she saw was startling.

"This does not look good." Garnet said. "My future vision shows us only having a 30% chance of success."

"What?!" Amethyst shrieked.

"Oh no…" Pearl muttered. Thankfully, just then, the potion of blindness had worn off.

Amethyst used this opportunity to use one of the grenades she had brought with her. She pulled the pin out, waited for about two seconds, and threw the grenade up at White Diamond, which then exploded near her back. Unlike most of the attacks that they were doing, this appeared to do a fair amount of damage. Although, White Diamond then decided to use another one of her potions.

"Eat potion of poison!" White Diamond shouted, tossing the potion down, which affected Stevonnie, Peridot, and Amethyst.

"Augh!" Stevonnie shrieked. "It feels like my skin is boiling away!"

Amethyst and Peridot were also feeling the effects of the potion; Amethyst feeling the effects more than Peridot or Stevonnie were since she was right next to the potion when it splashed everywhere. After a few seconds, Amethyst ended up poofing from the damage caused by the potion. Thankfully, though, the potion's effect had stopped before Stevonnie or Peridot were poofed. Stevonnie ran over and picked up Amethyst's gem as well, knowing that even though Amethyst takes the least amount of time to regenerate, it was still enough time that White Diamond could have shattered her.

Garnet, meanwhile, was repeatedly summoning her gauntlets and shooting them at White Diamond like missiles, while Pearl was beside her summoning spear after spear, throwing them at White Diamond. Amethyst then regenerated, ready to continue fighting, and shortly after, Lapis had also regenerated.

White Diamond threw down another potion, this time aiming directly for Stevonnie, which struck them directly, the potion causing immediate damage, enough to make them separate.

"That was my potion of instant damage." White Diamond told the newly separated Steven and Connie, who were lying on the floor, still in great pain from White Diamond's potion. White Diamond then summoned her giant hammer and struck Pearl and Garnet, who were still attacking White Diamond, sending them towards the other side of the room. White Diamond then swung her hammer down at Steven and Connie, but striking Steven's bubble instead. White Diamond repeatedly swung the hammer down at the bubble, gradually wearing it down.

Amethyst saw this and pulled out two grenades, pulling both pins at the same time using her mouth, counted to two, then threw them both up at White Diamond's head. The grenades exploded simultaneously, dealing quite a bit of damage. But before White Diamond could even strike back at Amethyst, she threw the last grenade up at White Diamond, dealing enough damage to poof the tyrant. Everyone began cheering at their hard-earned victory. But before Garnet could bubble the gem, White Diamond regenerated. It was then that White Diamond began laughing.

"You _fools_! Don't you know that a Diamond's regeneration time is an average of only two seconds?" White Diamond said. "Although, I must congratulate you. You managed to force the strongest gem in existence into their gemstone." White Diamond complimented. " _But know this_ : you may have managed to defeat me, but I will be back. And when I return, it will be much more difficult for you to defeat me."

White Diamond then pulled a lever, launching the gems out of the ship. The ship then flew off into space, back to gem homeworld.

"We… we did it." Connie said. "We did it! Ha ha, yes! The earth is safe!" The others all began sharing in celebrating their victory. And although White Diamond had threatened to return in the future, Steven, Connie, and the gems could rest easy knowing that they had saved the planet.

 **THE END.**


End file.
